Introduction

The concept of ‘nationalized insurance markets’ is a familiar term to all researchers of international insurance history. But how can the national character of an insurance market be defined? The dimensions of nationalization can be shaped by the economic competitive advantages of domestic insurers or by state intervention. Both circumstances have the same effect: the market becomes unattractive for international competitors.

Becoming a nationalized market turns a market almost into a black box. In the eyes of the international insurance researcher it is a kind of stigma. Understanding what makes a national insurance market specific is – generally speaking – not the subject of researchers' interest. In this chapter, with the example of India, I will pursue the specific structure of national insurance markets.

India is a very unique life insurance market. Its history is mainly distinguished by two periods: an era of juridical open-mindedness until 1956 and an era of nationalization from 1956 to 2001. In my opinion, the development of the specific Indian kind of life insurance experienced two stages: an economic shaping of the Indian insurance market during the era of laissez-faire juridical premises, and then, with nationalization, a political shaping of the Indian insurance market. They occurred at different times and had different effects. Both of them, however, are important for our understanding of Indian insurance and the structure of insurance markets.