French financial services major BNP Paribas has emerged as the front-runner in the ongoing sale process of the 26 per cent stake held by Warburg Pincus in private life insurer IndiaFirst Life Insurance, multiple industry sources in the know told Moneycontrol.
In India, BNP Paribas Group has a presence in the corporate and institutional banking and investment banking segments. The firm also has a mutual fund tie-up with Bank of Baroda and it’s interest in IndiaFirst Life Insurance can be seen as an attempt to diversify into new segments in the BFSI sector.
On November 13, Moneycontrol was the first to name BNP Paribas as one of the suitors for the deal. The report had also named Britain’s Prudential Plc, Chrys Capital and Wells Fargo backed Norwest Ventures as other interested parties.
Earlier on September 16, Moneycontrol also was the first to report that Warburg Pincus had appointed investment bank Barclays to kickstarted the exit process. The US private equity major is exploring an exit after entering the insurer eight years back
“ Post completion of due diligence by all parties, BNP Paribas has edged ahead of others and is now seen as the strongest contender to bag the deal. It is the lead suitor as of now,” said one of the persons above, warning that no final decision had been taken as yet.
Two other persons confirmed the above and added that other suitors had dropped behind or fallen out of the race but they may make a comeback if deal talks fail.
A fourth person added, “ If talks progress, the final agreements between both parties, BNP Paribas and Warburg Pincus, could be signed in the next three to four weeks.” All the four persons above spoke to Moneycontrol on the condition of anonymity.
Email queries to BNP Paribas, Warburg Pincus, IndiaFirst Life Insurance and Bank of Baroda remained unanswered at the time of publishing this article. Reminders have been sent and this article will be updated as soon as we hear from the parties. When contacted, Warburg Pincus declined to comment.
Mumbai headquartered IndiaFirst Life Insurance is a 3-way joint venture between lead shareholder Bank of Baroda which holds 65 per cent, Union Bank of India which holds 9 per cent and Carmel Point Investments India Pvt Ltd ( an affiliate of the Warburg Pincus group) which holds the balance stake.
The Moneycontrol report of September 16 had added that if the stake sale didn’t fructify, then the IPO option, which was attempted earlier, could be considered at a later stage depending on the strategy of all stakeholders.
Back in June 2018, Warburg Pincus purchased the stake held by UK’s Legal & General for an undisclosed amount and entered IndiaFirst Life Insurance. A PTI report later pegged the stake purchase value at Rs 710 crore.
Lens on insurance deals
In December, a key policy change was ushered in by the Indian government when the Parliament gave the nod for FDI hike in the insurance sector from 74 per cent to 100 per cent, by passing the Sabka Bima Sabki Raksha ( Amendment of Insurance Laws) Bill 2025.
In the last 12-18 months, prominent deals in the insurance space include Bajaj Finserv’s acquisition of Allianz SE’s entire 26 per cent stake in Bajaj Allianz General Insurance and Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance ending a 24-year-old relationship.
In March 2025, Prudential announced its plan to establish a joint venture with Vama Sundari Investments (Delhi) Private Limited, an HCL Group’s Promoter Company, to operate a standalone Indian health insurance business.
A closer look at IndiaFirst Life Insurance
As on 31 March 2025, the firm’s new business individual retail premium stood at Rs 1,425 crores & total premium stood at Rs 7,218 crores. As per its website, it services over 16 million customers, has a workforce of ~4,600 and a network of ~22,000 partner branches along with ~115 third party distributors & corporate agents. The firm also has a network of ~1,880 agents which completes its distribution ecosystem, the website says.
Incidentally, IndiaFirst Life Insurance had filed draft papers with Sebi for an IPO in October 2022 and received the regulators nod in March 2023. But the plans did not proceed.
Talking about the firm’s listing plans, the MD and CEO Rushabh Gandhi told Business Standard in August 2025 ,“The IPO was never shelved. It was deferred and that is precisely what the status is as of now. While the last 2 quarters have been encouraging, maintaining consistent growth over the next few quarters will be important. In addition to a stable growth path, limited headwinds, and increased tailwinds, along with supportive market conditions, are necessary for the IPO to be successful. The timing will ultimately be determined by our shareholders.”
Warburg Pincus: The India financial services playbook
In May 2024, top Chennai-based retail NBFC Shriram Finance announced the sale of its subsidiary Shriram Housing Finance to Warburg Pincus for Rs 4,630 crore. Moneycontrol was the first to report that the listed parent had revived stake sale plans to unlock value in its housing finance arm.
Post the transaction, Narendra Ostawal , MD, Warburg Pincus told Moneycontrol in an interview “ We have enormous experience of taking over NBFC's and scaling them in partnership with management teams, so for us, it's Deja Vu! We did this in Capital First and we did this in Avanse Financial Services, Vistaar Finance, so ditto!”
In August 2025, Warburg Pincus exited portfolio firm Home First Finance in a block trade. On August 11, Moneycontrol had reported that Warburg Pincus was eyeing a $143 mn clean out trade in Home First Finance.
Last year, as per reports, the US private equity firm was also in talks to sell its 10 per cent stake in SBI General Insurance to SBI and Premji Invest.
FAQs
What is the origin of the name “ Warburg Pincus”?
“Warburg” is associated with the prominent European banking family, while “ Pincus” comes from Lionel Pincus who merged with the former in 1966.
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