27A. Further provisions regarding investments.-

(1) No insurer carrying on life insurance business shall invest or keep invested any part of his controlled fund and no insurer carrying on general business shall invest or keep invested any part of his assets otherwise than in any of the approved investments as may be specified by the regulations subject to such limitations, conditions and restrictions therein.

(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1) or sub-section (2) of section 27, an insurer may, subject to the provisions contained in the next succeeding sub-sections, invest or keep invested any part of his controlled fund or assets otherwise than in an approved investment, if-

(i) after such investment, the total amounts of all such investments of the insurer do not exceed fifteen per cent. of the sum referred to in sub-section (1) of section 27 or fifteen per cent. of the assets referred to in sub-section (2) as the case may be;

(ii) the investment is made, or, in the case of any investment already made, the continuance of such investment is with the consent of all the directors present at a meeting and eligible to vote, special notice of which has been given to all the directors then in India, and all such investments, including investments in which any director is interested, are reported without delay to the Authority with full details of the investments and the extent of the director's interest in any such investment. (3) An insurer shall not out of his controlled fund or assets as referred to in section 27,- (a) invest in the shares of any one banking company; or (b) invest in the shares or debentures of any one company, more than the percentage specified by the regulations. (4) An insurer shall not out of his controlled fund or assets as referred to in sub-section (2) of section 27 invest or keep invested in the shares or debentures of any private limited company.

(5) All assets forming the controlled fund or assets as referred to in sub-section (2) of section 27, not being Government securities or other approved securities in which assets are to be invested or held 36

invested in accordance with this section, shall (except for a part thereof not exceeding one-tenth of the controlled fund or assets as referred to in sub-section (2) thereof in value which may, subject to such conditions and restrictions as may be prescribed, be offered as security for any loan taken for purposes of any investment), be held free of any encumbrance, charge, hypothecation or lien.

(6) If at any time the Authority considers any one or more of the investments of an insurer to be unsuitable or undesirable, the Authority may, after giving the insurer an opportunity of being heard, direct him to realise the investment or investments, and the insurer shall comply with the direction within such time as may be specified in this behalf by the Authority.

(7) Nothing contained in this section shall be deemed to affect in any way the manner in which any moneys relating to the provident fund of any employee or to any security taken from any employee or other moneys of a like nature are required to be held by or under any Central Act, or Act of a State legislature.

Explanation.-In this section "controlled fund" means-

(a) in the case of any insurer carrying on life insurance business-

(i) all his funds, if he carries on no other class of insurance business;

(ii) all the funds in India appertaining to his life insurance business if he carries on some other class of insurance business also.

Explanation.-For the purposes of sub-clauses (i) and (ii), the fund does not include any fund or portion thereof in respect of which the Authority is satisfied that such fund or portion, as the case may be, is regulated by the law in force of any country outside India or it would not be in the interest of the insurer to apply the provisions of this section;

(b) in the case of any other insurer carrying on life insurance business-

(i) all his funds in India, if he carries on no other class of insurance business;

(ii) all the funds in India appertaining to his life insurance business if he carries on some other class of insurance business also; but does not include any fund or portion thereof in respect of which the Authority is satisfied that such fund or portion thereof, as the case may be, is regulated by the law of any country outside India or in respect of which the Authority is satisfied that it would not be in the interest of the insurer to apply the provisions of this section.

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