Santam Limited has obtained regulatory approval to establish a reinsurance branch at Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City), India’s International Financial Services Centre (IFSC), marking a further step in the group’s international expansion.
The licence, granted in January 2026 by the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) and other Indian authorities, permits Santam to operate as an International Insurance Office (IIO). With the launch of the IIO, Santam becomes the first BRICS-based insurance company to set up a presence in GIFT City.
GIFT City (pictured) has in recent years positioned itself as a regional reinsurance hub, offering a distinct regulatory and tax framework aimed at attracting foreign insurers and reinsurers to write offshore and cross-border risks.
Santam said the branch will focus on treaty and facultative reinsurance business. Capacity will be provided primarily through Santam Re, the group’s non-life treaty reinsurer, across classes including property, engineering, marine, and liability. Santam Specialist Solutions will support facultative placements for complex and large risks.
The IIO is expected to be managed by a locally based team and will write business on AM Best A-rated paper, which is typically a prerequisite for participation in larger reinsurance programmes and cedent panels.
Santam said the move builds on more than a decade of underwriting business linked to India and broadens its access to the Indian and wider Asian markets from within the IFSC framework.
The approval follows the group’s recent authorisation to operate a syndicate at Lloyd’s of London, reflecting a strategy to diversify earnings geographically and expand its international reinsurance footprint.
