Mumbai: Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd (M&M), has announced its entry in India’s $20 billion life insurance market with a 50:50 Joint Venture with Canada-based Manulife Financial Corporation, one of the world’s leading life insurance and wealth management companies.
This announcement extends the collaborations between the two companies, following its earlier JV for wealth management named Mahindra Manulife Investment Management Company in 2020. This JV aims to help the automotive company expand into financial services, where it is already managing assets worth ₹19,000 crore.
This collaboration will involve both partners investing about Rs.7,200 crores over the next decade, with the JV tapping Mahindra’s deep distribution in rural and semi-urban areas with Manulife’s proven agency capabilities.
The company is seeking Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDAI) and other regulatory approvals over the next three months and hopes to launch the venture within the next 12-18 months.
“Mahindra brand strength, deep distribution capabilities in rural and semi-urban India and execution excellence make life insurance a logical extension towards our goal of building a comprehensive financial services portfolio. Manulife is the best natural partner for us given their global capabilities in insurance products, underwriting and reinsurance. With a focus on leveraging technology the joint venture will build an efficient, customer-centric insurer in India. We are confident that this joint venture offers a very compelling opportunity to create meaningful value for our shareholders.” Dr Anish Shah, Group CEO & Managing Director, Mahindra Group said in a press release.
“Today marks an important milestone as we seek to enter one of the world’s fastest growing insurance markets – India. This will further strengthen our diverse portfolio and positions us for tremendous growth in a mega economy of the future. We have a trusted partner in Mahindra Group, with whom we already have a successful asset management collaboration, and we see tremendous opportunity to build on our efforts by leveraging their deep distribution network alongside our industry-leading agency distribution and insurance expertise.” Mr. Phil Witherington, President and CEO, Manulife, added.
