LIC requests access to RBI's database on large creditors
Siddhartha Mohanty requested regulators to allow the insurance giant access to a central bank database on large firms while pushing for more assets to be made available for insurers to invest in.
«It will be a little selfish to say, with regards to LIC, when multiple regulators are there, there are certain issues. Some issues will be process-related and some policy-related,» Mohanty said at an event organised by State Bank of India. «Like a small issue, suppose the CRILC (Central Repository of Information on Large Credits).
I am the largest participant in the debt market (but) I have no access. My assessment and appraisals (are) on the basis of whatever public domain reports are there. So, I would be happy if we are given access to CRILC.»
The RBI's department of supervision handles the CRILC, which stores data on credit exposures of all borrowers.
Noting that insurance firms' investments are highly regulated, Mohanty said new asset classes such as sovereign gold bonds should be made available for insurers to invest in, which would improve market liquidity. «Similarly, long-term paper (bonds), they (the RBI) have helped us. Earlier we got some 40-year, 50-year papers but more such papers will be required because our asset-liability management, our liabilities are long-term,» he said.
In FY24, the government issued a 50-year bond for the first time.
