Globalisation & Liberalisation

According to Herman E Daly, Globalization serves the villous of a single, cosmopolitan, integrated global economy. This definition focuses on the cross border movement of goods, services and resources (financial and human) impacting on the domestic and global assets and employment. Globalization, thus focuses on an integrated economic world in which the economy is a single market characterized by trade and Investment flows, cross border economic activities In production, Investment financing, movement of capital, technology, labor, Internationalization of consumption, capital, and services.Economic liberation's is the gateway of globalization and financial liberation plays the most crucial role in integration of one neutron economy on the global economic network. However, very often the term liberation's and globalization are used simultaneously. Important instruments of liberation's are regulation of financial market to allow foreign capital, foreign investment, to and fro flow of c apital etc. Reduction of tariff and non-tariff barriers of trade, simplifications of customs measures etc.For successful global Integration a country must move to economic liberalizing by dismantling entry barriers and Licensing system, reduction in physical restrictions on imports, reduction in control n capital and current account, reforming financial system and opening up financial market to private (domestic and foreign) players, removing controls on foreign capital (FDA and portfolio) flow to the country etc. Globalization however, Is not a new phenomena of the current world activities.Economic historians have traced two strong waves of globalization. The first wave of globalization spread over 1 870 – 1914 while the second wave of globalization began roughly in 1960 and continuing. The current wave of globalization is much faster and deeper. Globalization today is fundamentally a new economic phenomenon, and a process to set up a new economic order globally increased in tegration and Interdependence of production, consumption and services. The present wave of banquets – Volvo.V Issue 1, January 2005 Globalization and Life Insurance gallstones NAS slantingly Innocence Improved speculation In resource allocation, productivity enhancement and specialization and greater innovation, adaptability and utilization of technology which has necessitated the need for cross border economic activity for all the countries. Resource mobility has not only reduced the cost of production and distribution but also boosted competition across the order.Drivers of Globalization The present wave of globalization has been significantly influenced by advances in information and computer technology, increased flow of trade and capital. Improved specialization in resource allocation, productivity enhancement and specialization and greater innovation, adaptability and utilization of technology which has necessitated the need for cross border economic activity for all th e countries. These have not only reduced the cost of production and distribution but also boosted competition across the border.Therefore important drivers of globalization are expansion of International Trade, Internationalization of Financial Market and Migration, Baldwin and Martin (1999) observed key aspects of globalization namely Trade, investment, migration and Factor prices , Capital flows and Markets, and Industrialization and Income Convergence and Divergence. Both waves of globalization were driven by radical reduction in technical and policy barriers to international transactions†¦. But the uniqueness in recent globalization is heavily shaped by the dramatic reduction in communications cost, what is sometimes referred to as the death of distance'.Financial Globalization Advancement in information technology, innovation in financial products, and increase in trade and services provided boost to the cross border flow of capital. Capital Mobility is considered as an in dicator of financial integration. Other indicator being gross stocks of foreign assets and liabilities. We shall discuss this in detail the section Financial Globalization The process of Globalization is strongly supported by Financial Globalization.There is an inextricable relation between increased international trade in goods and services and the increased flow of international UAPITA. It is because increased trade is followed by increase in payments, banking service, hedging etc. Stock markets, as we have noted in the beginning, has replaced the role of Banking to a great extent as a financier to corporate and development funds. Stock markets, in a globally integrated financial market facilitate risk sharing, improve efficiency of resource allocation, impact savings decisions and provide liquidity thus supporting faster economic growth.Globally integrated stock markets facilitates economic growth in several ways namely : Banquets – Volvo. V Issue 1, January 2005 021 Impro ve much name eloquently In ten market Prove prudent resource allocation prospects Create an environment for flow of savings thus reducing uncertainty of capital in the market Reduce risks through global diversification Liberalized and internationally integrated stock markets thus boost economic growth. Benefits of Financial Globalization Liberation's and globalization produces immense benefits to the countries integrated.Liberation's creates conducive climate for faster economic growth, allows upgrading of technology, provides scale economy, expansion of markets domestically and internationally. Economic integration through liberation's can also expand Job opportunities in domestic market and through migration of labor in general. Financial Globalization produces higher economic growth through direct and indirect impact on economy . Liberation's and globalization produce immense benefits to the countries integrated.Liberation's creates conducive climate for faster economic growth, a llows upgrading of technology, provides scale economy, expansion of markets domestically and internationally. Economic integration through liberation's can also expand Job opportunities in domestic market and through gyration of labor in general. However, liberation's of financial markets provides growth generating opportunities including the following. By encouraging FDA, developing economies can import much needed technology, which would further generate spillovers for local firms.Saggy (2002) mentioned three types of potential channels of spillovers, namely Demonstration Effect, (local firms adopting multinational introduced technologies), labor turnover switchover of trained labors to local firms (enabling technology diffusion) and vertical linkages (multinationals supplying technology to suppliers of intermediate goods). Global Financial integration augment much required domestic saving and boost up capital investment in investment starved countries. It also provides avenues fo r better allocation of capital and minimizes risk.Further, capital flow is accompanied by transfer of technology and finally assists in promoting healthy capital market. Indirect influences of globalization include promotion of globalization and integration of domestic economies which is followed by improving the macro economic policy frame work and setting up economic institutions and better governance system. Financial Liberation's has forced many countries to open up financial markets and relaxed the rules of intermediation allowing financial services institutions like investment banks, asset management companies, Mutual Funds, Pension Funds etc. To operate in newly liberalized markets. The forces of change unleashed by financial globalization, reenacted In Electroplating AT Dangling system, Increase In cross border financial activity increased competition in savings market convergence in financial services industry. B. Globalization of Insurance Market Insurance is an integral p art of national economy and a strong pillar of financial arrest. Therefore, waves of globalization have also deeply influenced the insurance market worldwide. Financial Market Globalization has also been strongly supported by Globalization of Insurance.With the increase in Trade, Direct Investment and Portfolio Investment, there has been an ever growing demand for Insurance services particularly in the emerging markets. Globalization of Insurance market, as a part of the overall process of liberalizing in emerging and other countries enabled the foreign insurance companies to enter in those countries and benefited both. The riving forces of insurance market globalization has been identified by Swiss Re (Sigma No. 4/2000) as the ‘push factors' and ‘Pull Factors'.The Push factors are the motives behind the movement of foreign insurance companies while the pull factors are the motives behind allowing the foreign companies to operate in local market, l) Push factors : Insura nce Companies move out to emerging markets due to Increasing Global Trade , Growing Direct Investment , Potential Future Growth in Emerging Markets , Saturation in industrialized countries and Strong growth in emerging entries and expected Efficiency Gains through Diversification , Economics of scale etc it) Pull Factors : The important pull factors in emerging markets – Emerging Markets have Strong Economic growth and Trade, and there are substantial requirements of capital in Emerging Markets to cover major risks. There are several benefits to the countries allowing foreign insurance companies to operate in their countries which can be broadly classified into Economy related, and Insurance marked related Economy related benefits to the local country : Foreign insurance companies along with local companies add further momentum to obligation of savings. Institutional net work in the savings market increases, which also influence the savings behavior of household and corporate savings.Resources and capital allocation in the Domestic Market increases with the increased sophistication brought by the foreign insurance companies It also improves the financial stability in the host country, as well as facilitates improvement in production and Trade. Banquets – Volvo. V Issue 1, January 2005 023 Insurance market related benefits : Capital structure of entire insurance industry improves because foreign companies brings fresh capital with them. Market efficiency improves due to information dissemination, global operating knowledge and increased competition. Management inclemency Increases Decease Torrent companies Drill Walt teem global experience and management innovation. Range of available products increases because foreign companies bring with them a wide range of products and product development expertise.Customers' service improves. Increased competition, technology led service, and cost competition finally benefits the consumers. Globalization also improves Regulatory and Governance system. It also improves market conduct and Ethical Business Standard. Jennifer Rankin (2003) mentions the following factors driving the insurance companies' cross border activity. Many countries are moving away from protectionism and state control and taking more market driven approach especially in the insurance and financial services and opening up their markets to foreign companies. The process of Insurance globalization significantly influenced by the GOATS/WTFO.A major break through was achieved in 1997 with an agreement of Liberation's of financial services following which 102 countries committed to remove entry barriers and liberalism their markets. The GOATS agreement offers legal security and protection to global insurance players. With the removal of entry barriers in emerging and less developed countries there has been an increased flow of funds from developed countries to the emerging and less developed countries. According to Swiss R e (Sigma No. 4/2000) â€Å"In recent years there has been a strong increase in the demand for insurance in the emerging markets. The average annual growth rate in the emerging markets has since 1990 been twice as high as industrial countries in both life and non-life insurance.There is already an indication of slow Roth and saturation of insurance market in industrially developed countries. During 2003, Global Life business witnessed a decline of -0. 8%. However, emerging market life business grew by 6. 6% as against -1 . 7% decline in industrialized countries. In non life business, while industrialized countries achieved 5. 7% growth in real premium income, emerging markets registered 8. 5% growth rate in 2003. However, total premium income of emerging market in 2003, was US $ 314128 million which represented 10. 68% global premium income, whereas share of industrialized countries with US $ 2626542 million representing 89. 2% of global premium. This is an indication of huge potent ial emerging market.Globalization of Financial as well as Life Insurance Market is an inevitable phenomena. In the years to come the globalization of Insurance Market is going to speedup further. The impact of globalization will also be felt more in emerging markets which have exhibited better potential for growth in insurance market. Data provided in Table No. 1 and Table No. 2 shows that countries which have extensively opened up the Insurance 24 Market to the Private and Foreign Companies have achieved relatively better growth in insurance density and penetration. It has also been noted in India that growth of Insurance Market was faster in the post liberation's period than that in pre- Tatterdemalions pergola.However, one AT ten constraints AT Insurance Gallstones Is a small number of global players as noted by UNEVEN (2002). The private insurance industry is largely a national industry rather than a global one. The number of truly global insurance players is in the range of 20 to 30 only. Another 70 companies operate significantly in more than one continent through branches. Only 1. 2% of global insurance premium comes from across border business. C. Impact of Liberation's on Economic growth Research of Bernstein and others (1998) shows that FDA contributes more domestic growth than domestic investment. And also FDA is more productive than domestic investment.Liberation's of capital markets attracts foreign investment which influences the price of equity thereby reducing the cost of capital. Research of Beakers and Harvey (2000) indicated that post liberalized regulatory reforms bring down the cost of capital and also help to increase inflow of capital. Financial liberation's also imparts structural formats of capital markets, improves the closures, transparency and corporate governance which creates growth prospects in a liberalized country. It has been noted that the average per capita income is higher in the countries with more open economic policies a nd better global linkages, than in the countries with less openness in financial sector. Globalization has helped promote convergence of per capita incomes.Per capita incomes have grown faster in globalization developing countries (those lowering trade barriers) than in rich countries – 5 per cent versus 2. 2 per cent in sass†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. Non globalization Developing countries have lagged behind. Finance and Development, March 2002. , UP). Resource (2002) has observed that â€Å"the trend of rising inequality over the past 200 years, primarily between countries, now appears to have been reversed, and the experience of the 19th century suggests that increased globalization will accelerate this decline. Parkas et al (2003) has noted that ‘International Financial Integration can help to promote domestic financial sector development, which in turn can help to moderate macro economic volatility.However, thus far these benefits of financial integration appear to have accru ed primarily to industrialized countries. D. Growth of Life Insurance in India Indian Life Insurance Industry, since nationalization, has registered a significant growth and gradually increased its share in household financial savings. As noted in table 4, the Share of Insurance Funds has increased from 8. 7% in 1993-94 to 14. 9% in 2003-04, while the share of life insurance funds increased from 8% to 14. 5% during the same Banquets – Volvo. V Issue 1, January 2005 025 per 00 Ana In terms AT GAP It NAS Increased Trot I Nils Is a gallants achievement of Life Insurance Industry which till recently represented by LICE of India.Growth in Life Fund is considered to be an important indicator of growth of Life Insurance Industry and as can be seen from the Table 4, LICE has performed exceedingly well. LICE, after nationalization of 256 Life Insurance Companies, started with a Life Fund of RSI. 410. 40 core, which in course of time increased rapidly and stood at RSI. 3,21 ,754 core i n 2004. Similarly, the total assets of LICE has increased from RSI. 463 core in 1958 to core in 2004. High growth of Life Fund and Assets of LICE was possible due to significant growth in New Business, which got a boost during the Post Liberation's period. First time in 1999, LICE sold more than one core (1. 8 core) policies in a single year, however, growth became faster during the post liberalized period and in 2002 it crossed the 2 core mark by selling 2. 25 core policy, which increased further to 2. 42 core in 2003. In 2004, New Business (AS) had gone up RSI 2,02,898. 14 core under 2,69,63,504 policies. Total in force policies serviced by LICE by the end of 2004, stood at 15. 39 core under Sum Assured of RSI. 9,25,033. 33 core. Liberation's of Indian Insurance market has provided further push of the Insurance Industry. By the end of March, 2004, there were 13 Life Insurance companies including LICE in the market, which has not only generated competition but also provided a wide range of product choice to the customers.An overall view of Indian Life Insurance market can be obtained through data released by ERDA, shown in the Table 6 and Table 7. Accordingly total no. Of policies underwritten in 2004 increased by, 12. 78% from 2002-03 to 5 2003-04, while the premium under these policies increased by 51. 80%, from lacks to 18,71 ,016. 02 lacks during the same period. So far LICE is concerned, there is a fall in market share in New Business. In No. Of Policies the market share declined from 96. 70% to 94. 21% while in premium income the market share of LICE declined from 92. 03% to 87. 04% during the same period. These indicate that Indian Life Insurance in general has expanded since liberalizing on the one hand and market has been increasingly becoming competitive. E.India in the International Context Though the share of Life Fund in household Financial Assets has gone up during the last decade and Indian Life Insurance Industry registered better growth rate compared with global growth rate yet total premium volume and global market share minded quite low. Total premium volume of Life Insurance Industry in the World at 9% growth rate increased from US $ 1 534,061 2002 to US $ 16,72514 2003, whereas in India 26 growth rate was much higher at 18% and Total Premium volume increased from US $ s S EYE ruling ten same pergola. Insurance Density (premium per capita and Insurance Penetration (premium in percentage of GAP) which are important growth indicators are quite low in India. In the year 2003, Life Insurance Density in India was only US $ 12. 9 as against the World Density of US $ 267. 1. Similarly, Life Insurance Penetration in India was only 2. % as against World Penetration level of 4. 59%.