event

The Way Ahead: Land Title Insurance in India

Fri. September 18th, 2020

Zoom Webinar

Land in India holds a significant share in the total asset value of Indian households. However, the poor quality of land title records results in excessive litigation, property disputes, and cases of fraud. This in turn affects the cost and certainty of transactions that involve land and real estate. Even though the Indian government has operated a land record modernization program for a decade now, progress has been slow. In 2016, the Real Estate Regulation Act allowed state governments to require title insurance for real estate projects. While some insurers have started selling title insurance products for real estate projects, the market is still at an incipient stage. The insurance regulator IRDAI has set up a working group to consider a general regulatory framework for title insurance in India. At this juncture, what are the key regulatory considerations for growing the title insurance market in India? Given that title insurance is widely used in the U.S., what can India learn from the title insurance regulation regime in the United States?

Join us for the seventh edition of the Political Economy Seminar Series for a discussion with Anirudh Burman based on his working paper, “Land Title Insurance in India: Lessons from U.S. Regulatory Approaches.” This seminar will include a presentation by Anirudh Burman, followed by a panel discussion featuring S. Chockalingam, Joel S. Peck, Yegna Priya Bharath, and Pramod Rao. This event will be held in partnership with the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP). The discussion will be moderated by Bhargavi Zaveri.

To submit a question for the event, please email carnegieindia@ceip.org. Participants may also submit their questions through the Q&A box in the Zoom webinar or the comments section on our YouTube livestream.

event speakers

Joel S. Peck
Joel S. Peck is a recognised authority on the use of Title Insurance to mitigate the legal risks of property acquisitions and mortgage finance. He practiced law in New York and then joined Lehman Brothers, where he worked for 16 years, becoming Senior Vice President, Real Estate Investment Banking. In 2002, Mr. Peck joined LandAmerica Financial Group to head International Services, with the mission to expand LandAmerica’s Title Insurance business in Canada and Mexico and to introduce Title Insurance in the European and Asia Pacific markets. In 2011, he co-founded Secure Legal Title with Sean Dalton and Jean-Bernard Wurm to bring Lloyd’s of London Title Insurance to the UK and European markets, and in 2014 he expanded Secure Legal Title’s Title Insurance business to Mexico, with the acquisition of Armour Secure Insurance.
Pramod Rao
Pramod joined ICICI Bank as its Group General Counsel on August 16 2018 and oversees the legal function for the ICICI group (www.icicibank.com). Previously, Pramod had served as General Counsel for Citi India cluster (July 2013 till mid-August 2018), and was responsible for the Legal & Secretarial functions within Citi India cluster (incorporating Bangladesh & Sri Lanka). He also oversaw Citi Security & Investigative Services (CSIS), and chaired the Citi India Diversity Council and was a member of various internal management and oversight committees.
Bhargavi Zaveri
Bhargavi Zaveri is part of the Finance Research Group, Mumbai. She works in the areas of financial regulation, land and access to finance and regulatory governance. She has previously held research positions at IGIDR, the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy and the Harvard Law School. She has advised the Ministry of Finance on issues relating to financial regulation. She has published academic work on Indian financial regulation in Indian and international journals. She often writes about land and access to finance in the public media.
S. Chockalingam
S. Chockalingam is the settlement commissioner and director of Land Records for Maharashtra.
Anirudh Burman
Associate Research Director and Fellow, Carnegie India
Yegna Priya Bharath
Yegna Priya Bharath is the chief general manager (non-life) at IRDAI.

Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.

event speakers

Joel S. Peck
Joel S. Peck is a recognised authority on the use of Title Insurance to mitigate the legal risks of property acquisitions and mortgage finance. He practiced law in New York and then joined Lehman Brothers, where he worked for 16 years, becoming Senior Vice President, Real Estate Investment Banking. In 2002, Mr. Peck joined LandAmerica Financial Group to head International Services, with the mission to expand LandAmerica’s Title Insurance business in Canada and Mexico and to introduce Title Insurance in the European and Asia Pacific markets. In 2011, he co-founded Secure Legal Title with Sean Dalton and Jean-Bernard Wurm to bring Lloyd’s of London Title Insurance to the UK and European markets, and in 2014 he expanded Secure Legal Title’s Title Insurance business to Mexico, with the acquisition of Armour Secure Insurance.
Pramod Rao
Pramod joined ICICI Bank as its Group General Counsel on August 16 2018 and oversees the legal function for the ICICI group (www.icicibank.com). Previously, Pramod had served as General Counsel for Citi India cluster (July 2013 till mid-August 2018), and was responsible for the Legal & Secretarial functions within Citi India cluster (incorporating Bangladesh & Sri Lanka). He also oversaw Citi Security & Investigative Services (CSIS), and chaired the Citi India Diversity Council and was a member of various internal management and oversight committees.
Bhargavi Zaveri
Bhargavi Zaveri is part of the Finance Research Group, Mumbai. She works in the areas of financial regulation, land and access to finance and regulatory governance. She has previously held research positions at IGIDR, the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy and the Harvard Law School. She has advised the Ministry of Finance on issues relating to financial regulation. She has published academic work on Indian financial regulation in Indian and international journals. She often writes about land and access to finance in the public media.
S. Chockalingam
S. Chockalingam is the settlement commissioner and director of Land Records for Maharashtra.
Anirudh Burman
Associate Research Director and Fellow, Carnegie India
Yegna Priya Bharath
Yegna Priya Bharath is the chief general manager (non-life) at IRDAI.

The Way Ahead: Land Title Insurance in India

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