With few insurers showing interest in tapping the capital market, Insurance Regulatory & Development of India (Irda) on Wednesday said it would come out with disclosure norms for initial public offerings (IPO) by insurance companies next week.

"Disclosure norms for insurance coming out with IPOs will come out next week,” Irda chairman J Harinarayan said. On the government's proposal, which would mandate that companies can go for an IPO after five years of operation instead of the earlier wait period of 10 years, he said, “It is the government that has to decide on it."

He further said only a handful of insurance companies have shown interest for IPOs. Irda is working with market regulator Sebi to finalise the red herring prospectus (RHP) requirements.

The route towards an IPO would, therefore, have three milestones , finalisation of the RHP requirements, disclosure norms and valuation of insurance companies.

According to Harinarayan, the insurance watchdog has done its part on the valuation of the insurers and now it is with the Institute of Actuaries of India to issue guidelines on it.