To widen its life insurance business reach

Tokio Marine Holdings has planned to foray into the life insurance market in India, likely in January 2011 via a joint venture with Mumbai-based investment bank Edelweiss Capital Ltd, reported istockanalyst.

The company stated that it has decided to invest around 3 billion yen in capital to

takeover a 26% stake in the joint company. The company has been planned to be named as Edelweiss Tokio Life Insurance Ltd. The life insurance market in India is currently stands at 4 trillion yen and likely to keep expanding.

Tokio Marine will be the first Japanese insurance group to offer both life and non-life insurance services in India.

As per Tokio Marine, Edelweiss Tokio intends to sell variable and other savings-oriented life insurance policies. Tokio Marine has already stepped into the property and casualty insurance market in India in 2000.