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Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd (M&M) and Toronto-based Manulife on Thursday entered into an agreement to establish a 50:50 life insurance joint venture
Manulife is the largest insurance company in Canada with Canadian $1.4 trillion in assets under management (AUM).
“Combining Mahindra’s deep access and extensive distribution in rural and semi-urban areas with Manulife’s proven quality agency capabilities catered to urban customers, the joint venture will create long term value by driving customer centricity and leveraging new technologies,” the two companies said in a statement. Upon regulatory approval, this joint venture will expand on the collaboration between Mahindra and Manulife in India, following the successful launch of Mahindra Manulife Investment Management in 2020, they said.
The life Insurance market has surpassed $20 billion in new business premiums, growing at a 12 per cent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over the past five years. However, India continues to have a high protection gap and low insurance penetration, providing significant long-term growth potential. These tailwinds position India to become the world’s fastest growing life insurance market over the next decade, on track to become the fourth largest globally.
This growth is underpinned by robust GDP expansion, a rising middle class, and a supportive regulatory environment, it said.
“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,” Anish Shah, group CEO and managing director, Mahindra Group said.
Phil Witherington, president and CEO, Manulife said, “this will further strengthen our diverse portfolio and position us for tremendous growth in a mega economy of the future. We see tremendous opportunity to build on our efforts by leveraging their deep distribution network alongside our industry-leading agency distribution and insurance expertise.”
“The joint venture aims to offer long-term savings and protection solutions tailored to the diverse and growing needs of India’s population, in line with India’s ‘Insurance for All’ vision by 2047,” said a statement from M&M.
