Page 520 - ES 2020-21_Volume-1-2 [28-01-21]

Monetary Management and Financial Intermediation 147

Figure 16 (b): India VIX

Source: NSE

4.49 In view of the COVID-19 pandemic, various measures were undertaken by SEBI. In the
period of moratorium by the RBI, if CRA is of the view that the delay in payment of interest/
principle has arisen solely due to the lockdown, CRAs may not consider the same as a default
event and/or recognize default. Further, extension in timelines for press release and disclosures
on website was also provided. CRAs were provided flexibility to deviate from the curing period
of 90 days for upgrading a rating from default to non-investment grade. SEBI granted temporary
relaxation in processing of documents pertaining to FPIs by allowing designated depository
participants/ custodians to process the request(s) for registration/ continuance/ KYC / KYC
review & any other material change on the basis of scanned version of signed documents (instead
of originals) and copies of documents which are not certified, received from specified email
ids. Also, relaxations were provided in terms of pre-listing and post-listing compliance related
to financials for the listed issuers of non-convertible debentures non-convertible redeemable
preference shares and commercial papers.

INSURANCE SECTOR

4.50 The performance and potential of insurance sector is assessed using two indicators-
Insurance penetration and Insurance Density. Insurance penetration is calculated as percentage
of insurance premium to GDP and insurance density is calculated as ratio of insurance premium
to population.

4.51 In India, Insurance penetration which was 2.71 per cent in 2001 has steadily increased to
3.76 per cent in 2019. In contrast, insurance penetration in Asia, i.e., Malaysia, Thailand and
China was 4.72, 4.99 and 4.30 per cent respectively in 2019. As of 2019, the penetration for Life
insurance in India is 2.82 per cent, the penetration for Non-Life insurance is much at 0.94 per
cent (Table 12 and 13). Globally insurance penetration was 3.35 per cent for the life segment