The Bhutanese Leading the way.
With the objective of making lives easier for Bhutanese and to contribute to the socio-economic development of the country in the face of Indian Rupee (INR) shortage, a re-insurance company “GIC-Bhutan Re Ltd”, with assistance from GIC (General Insurance Corporation), India was launched on September 5.
The company will provide insurance to Bhutan Insurance Limited (BIL) and Royal Insurance Corporation of Bhutan (RICB).It will create employment and cease the INR currency outflow from local insurance companies. INR 130mn is also injected by GIC in the face of INR crisis.
“We have all suffered from some form of loss, being it through human negligence or through natural calamities, but those of us who have been fortunate enough to have insurance coverage, have been able to recoup from such losses with minimum of turbulence because we have transferred our risk to the insurance companies. Likewise, no matter how big the loss, insurance companies have also been able to make good the claim as they have also further hedged with reinsurance companies,” CEO of GIC Bhutan Re-Ltd, Wangchuck Namgyel said.
“GIC-Bhutan Re-Ltd hopes to capitalize on the business skills, know- how, experience and expertise and often even better services,” Namgyel added.
Speaking at the event, chairman of the company, Sangay Wangchuck, one of the promoters said they had worked hard for two years to initiate the company.
With regard to the GIC partnership, Sangay Wangchuk said is based on the size of geographical and population in India which is enormous. On the other hand, he stated on the richness of GIC as the only reinsurer company in India which is 100 percent owned by Government of India (GoI) and is the 14th largest re-insurance company in the world.
“I have no doubt that with the years of experience and expertise, GIC will bring-in a lot of value to our partnership and to this company, and we look forward to working together,”he said.
“We promise to make GIC-Bhutan Re equal to no other than the best reinsurer in the region in times to come,” he added.
At the event Indian Ambassador VP Haran stated India will increase business opportunities in Bhutan. Finance minister Namgay Dorji also assured full support from the government to stimulate insurance returns of the GIC-Bhutan Re Ltd.
GIC-Bhutan Re Ltd is a foreign direct investment joint venture between local promoters owning 34 percent and 26 percent by GIC. Sangay Wangchuck and Aum Damchoe Dem share 17 percent each and the rest 40 percent which accounts to Nu 200mn will be floated to the public as initial public offering. The paid up capital for the company is Nu 500mn.
The inauguration was graced by Lyonpo Namgay Dorji and the Indian Ambassador to Bhutan, VP Haran in the presence of the Central Bank Governor, Deputy Governor, senior officials of GIC and officials from the financial institutions.
