The All-India Insurance Employees’ Association (AIEA) has demanded merger of four public sector general insurance companies into a single corporation to protect business interest and also to effectively fulfill their social obligations.
A meeting of the association held here recently adopted a resolution, copies of which were distrbuted to the media today, seeking the merger of the United India Insurance, the New India Assurance and Oriental Company.
AIEA Standing Committee Secretary J Gurumoorthy told reporters that following the opening up of the insurance sector, nine private companies had forayed into the non-life insurance business.
Stating that all the four public sector companies had been generating profits despite the entry of the private sector, he questioned the need for four different PSU firms to carry on the same business in the era of mergers and acquisitions.
The four companies along with the General Insurance Corporation of India had paid a dividend of Rs 892 crore to the government for 2006-07, he said.
Claiming that the association had already garnered support on its demand from some Members of Parliament and MLAs cutting across party lines, he said it was surprising that Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram, who had been advocating merger and consolidation of banks, was reluctant to a similar exercise in the insurance sector.
The association also demanded that the managements commence negotiations on issues like wage increase and promotions for clerical and subordinate employees.
