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Naidu lobbies to locate insurance regulator in Hyderabad

George Iype in Hyderabad

The national headquarters of the proposed Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority is likely to be located in Hyderabad.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu is lobbying hard for the Central government’s sanction for the prestigious institution in the state capital.

Officials said Naidu has already written to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Finance Minister Yaswant Sinha demanding that the headquarters of the RDA should be located in the City of Charminar.

He has told Vajpayee and Sinha that cheaper land rates and infrastructure in Hyderabad as compared to Delhi, Bombay or Bangalore should make Hyderabad the ideal place to set up the newly constituted insurance body.

As one of the largest constituents of the National Democratic Alliance government, Naidu's Telugu Desam Party wields considerable political clout with Vajpayee. Therefore, officials believe, the Centre would give in to Naidu’s political pressure by awarding the IRDA centre to Hyderabad.

The Central government is in the final stages of kickstarting the privatisation of the insurance sector as the IRDA bill was passed in Parliament in the winter session. It has also received President K R Narayanan’s consent.

Although the IRDA Act has come into force, the process will be complete only after the Union finance ministry finalises the rules and regulations and selects members of the apex insurance body. N Rangachary is the chairman of IRDA.

Sinha has already indicated that all arrangements to set up reconstituted IRDA will be in place in one month for the private parties to enter the insurance sector.

Officials said Naidu is striving hard to clinch the IRDA deal for Hyderabad for a number of reasons. First, IRDA headquarters in Hyderabad will be a big step forward to accomplish his dream to make the city India's infotech and financial hub.

Having made Hyderababd into a destination for information technology, Naidu is these days coming out with ambitious plans to convert the city into an alternative to Bombay.

A Hyderabad-based technocrat says Naidu's zeal to put Hyderabad on the map of world's important cities is amazing. "He is a lobbyist par excellence. He lobbied Bill Gates for a Microsoft operation in Hyderabad. He lobbied the corporate captains for the business school. He lobbies the infotech industry for turning Hyderabad into Cyberabad. He is now lobbying the White House directly to convince Bill Clinton into visiting Hyderabad during his India trip. And now this drive for IRDA headquarters."

Officials said as the insurance sector is information technology-based, bringing the IRDA headquarters to Hyderabab is Naidu’s first priority. Towards this end, the state government has already carried out discussions with financial institutions and banks in Bombay to ensure that Hyderabad becomes a back-end house for them.

“Location of any national establishment in a state capital is very important. Since the IRDA headquarters will be a prestigious institution, bringing it here will tremendously enhance the importance of Hyderabad,” a senior official in Naidu’s office told rediff.com.

Naidu has already made a beginning in the private insurance sector. Global conglomerates like GE Capital Services are in the process of setting up their back-office operations in Hyderabad.

Business

Andhra Pradesh