XL Group is to acquire a 20 per cent stake in Mahindra Insurance Brokers Ltd (MIBL), an insurance broker serving rural and semi-urban India.

The move will enable XL, which trades as XL Catlin, to support greater insurance penetration in a developing economy. MIBL is valued at around $200 million.

Since inception in 2004, MIBL has serviced more than eight million insurance cases, safeguarding the livelihoods of millions across rural India by protecting their assets and loans taken for buying tractors and vehicles.

XL Group, which is based in Bermuda, said it would help support MIBL’s endeavours to increase insurance awareness and penetration in under-penetrated markets and across underserved customers in rural India.

Greg Hendrick, president, P&C insurance and reinsurance, at XL Catlin, said, “This minority investment plays to our commitment to emerging markets and to supporting insurance penetration in developing economies, helping improve economic resilience by closing the gap between economic and insured losses.

“It will also provide us a chance to better understand the primary retail insurance and distribution landscapes in the rapidly developing Indian market.”

Jaideep Devare, managing director of MIBL, said: “We want to introduce insurance ideas from the global markets, suitably adapted for the Indian market.

“MIBL would continue to focus on the rural and semi-urban areas, where insurance penetration is low and the need for social and economic progress that insurance inclusion can bring is high. We will welcome XL Group as a valuable partner to drive dialogue on these efforts.”

XL has a large shared service operation presence in India, at Gurugram and Bengaluru. It provides business and underwriting support, claims administration, actuarial services, finance and accounting, and more. The group also has a fully licensed reinsurance branch office in Mumbai.