Manulife partners with Mahindra

Manulife and Indian corporation Mahindra & Mahindra have entered into an agreement to establish a 50:50 life insurance joint venture, subject to regulatory approval.

The new venture will strengthen Manulife and Mahindra’s existing footprint in India, with the vision to be the #1 life insurance company for rural and semi-urban India.

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.

The total capital commitment from each shareholder is up to $400 million, with each shareholder investing $140 million in the first 5 years.

“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.” – Phil Witherington, President and CEO, Manulife.

“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.” – Anish Shah, Group CEO & Managing Director, Mahindra Group.