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Maruti to distribute insurance products

India's largest carmaker, Maruti Udyog Ltd, is expected to begin marketing general insurance products as part of a diversification plan, a company spokesman said on Monday.

The expansion plan, prepared with the help of consulting firm A T Kearney, would provide Maruti car owners a wider choice of motor, personal accident and health insurance coverage, the spokesman said.

India's insurance industry has recently been thrown open to private companies after decades of government control and attracted several leading domestic and international companies.

He said the company would finalise plans after alterations in insurance regulations that will allow it to distribute insurance products of different companies. It will aim at the insurance market made up of the over three million Maruti car owners.

Maruti, in which Japan's Suzuki Motor Co and the Indian government hold 50 per cent equity, had a market share of 58.4 per cent in the first 11 months through February.

It sold 350,761 vehicles in the financial year ended in March, 13.7 per cent less than in the same year-earlier period. The sales include 15,300 units exported.

The spokesman said the company had set aside 160 million rupees in start-up expenses to roll out the service within the next six months which he hoped would help increase flagging car sales.

Maruti also has plans to enter the used-car business, corporate leasing and fleet management services.

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