The Hindu Business Line : MetLife India to infuse $100 m

GROWTH AT FAST CLIP: Mr C. Robert Henrikson, President & CEO, MetLife, and Mr Rajesh Relan, MD, MetLife India, at a press conference in the Capital on Thursday. - Ramesh Sharma

New Delhi , Oct. 5

MetLife India Insurance Co Pvt Ltd plans to infuse $100 million capital to fund its expansion plans. MetLife Inc, which holds 26 per cent in MetLife India, is also keen to increase its stake to 49 per cent once the Government hikes the FDI cap.

The injection of capital is to sustain the 100 per cent year-on-year growth and aggressively increase the agent force and double the branch network in the next two years.

"Keeping in mind growth plans, we may infuse in excess of $100 million (approximately Rs 450 crore) in the next two years," said the MetLife Inc Chairman and CEO, Mr Rob Henrikson. With the capital infusion, the paid-up capital of the company will double to about Rs 900 crore. At present, the company has Rs 431 crore of paid up capital.

Capital should not be a constraint to growth, Mr Henrikson said, adding that MetLife India is likely to break-even in the next four to five years as the company is growing at a fast rate.

The private insurer has collected close to Rs 150 crore in premium in the first six months of this fiscal. MetLife India, set up in 2002, is a joint venture of MetLife Inc, J&K Bank, M. Pallonji and Co and other private investors.