Hinduja group offers to infuse ₹300 crore in Reliance General Insurance

The Hinduja group has made an offer to invest an additional ₹300 crore in Reliance General Insurance.

Reliance General Insurance, a unit of Reliance Capital, needs a cash infusion to maintain solvency levels.

IndusInd International Holdings Ltd (IIHL), which is owned by Hinduja, made the highest bid of ₹9,650 crore for Reliance Capital in a second auction on Wednesday.

Reliance General Insurance had sought ₹600 crore cash infusion from lenders in December last year to meet the solvency requirements of the IRDA. The lenders earlier rejected the call for fund infusion from their pocket, putting the onus on the general insurance firm to the incoming investor.

The bid amount of ₹9,650 crore will go to lenders who had lent ₹24,000 crore to Reliance Capital. The Committee of Creditors (COC) of Reliance Capital will hold a meeting on Friday where the top officials of the Hinduja group will make a presentation on its resolution plan.

Reliance Capital owns a 51 per cent stake in Reliance Nippon Life Insurance and 100 per cent in Reliance Nippon General Insurance.

The Hinduja group has a presence in the financial services sector through its stake in Indusind Bank and Hinduja Leyland Finance, a non-banking finance company owned by Ashok Leyland.

The group has a housing finance business which is core to its strategy to increase its presence in financial services. At a consolidated level, as on December 31, 2022, the AUM (assets under management) of Hinduja Leyland Finance stood at ₹33,353 crore of which the housing finance business accounted for 18 per cent.

In addition to ₹9,650 crore, the company has also offered ₹300 crore capital infusion in Reliance General Insurance, and another ₹50 crore for other expenses.

The total value of IIHL's bid is ₹10,000 crore. The total Hinduja bid is ₹1,900 crore more compared to its own bid of ₹8,110 crore in the first challenge mechanism.

Torrent, which decided to skip the second auction, had offered ₹8,640 crore in the first auction. The new Hinduja bid is higher by ₹1,380 crore. Torrent has moved the Supreme Court on banks' plans to launch a second auction. The matter will be heard in August.

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