EFU Insurance, originally Eastern Federal Union Insurance Company Limited, is a Pakistan based insurance company. It was the first insurance company in India founded in 1932, owned by the

Muslims Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

based in

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

. After the

partition of India The partition of India in 1947 was the division of British India into two independent dominion states, the Dominion of India, Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan. The Union of India is today the Republic of India, and the Dominion of Paki ...

, the company moved to

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

and operated in

East Pakistan East Pakistan was the eastern province of Pakistan between 1955 and 1971, restructured and renamed from the province of East Bengal and covering the territory of the modern country of Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India and Burma, wit ...

and

West Pakistan West Pakistan was the western province of Pakistan between One Unit, 1955 and Legal Framework Order, 1970, 1970, covering the territory of present-day Pakistan. Its land borders were with Afghanistan, India and Iran, with a maritime border wit ...

. The company ceased to exist in East Pakistan after it became

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

in 1971.

History

It was the first insurance company in India owned and run by Muslims targeted for the Muslim populace. Abdur Rahman Siddiqui of

Surat Surat (Gujarati Language, Gujarati: ) is a city in the western Indian States and territories of India, state of Gujarat. The word Surat directly translates to ''face'' in Urdu, Gujarati language, Gujarati and Hindi. Located on the banks of t ...

and Khonkar Fazle Haider of

Murshidabad Murshidabad (), is a town in the Indian States and territories of India, state of West Bengal. This town is the headquarters of Lalbag subdivision of Murshidabad district. It is located on the eastern bank of the Hooghly river, Bhagirathi Riv ...

district were the company's founders. Siddiqui and Haider executed a “memorandum of understanding” in 1931 with one of leading British insurance companies, the “Atlas” and Messrs. B.M. Collins, Lloyds brokers. The company was incorporated on 2 September 1932 in Calcutta with E.N. Menhinick, a senior manager of Atlas as the first chief executive officer of the company.The main objective of the company was to provide “insurance service to the community and also to produce competent Muslim insurance personnel.”

Aga Khan III Sir Sultan Muhammad Shah (2 November 187711 July 1957), known as Aga Khan III, was the 48th Imamate in Nizari doctrine, imam of the Nizari Isma'ili, Ism'aili branch of Shia Islam. He was one of the founders and the first permanent president of ...

and

Hamidullah Khan Nawab Sir Hamidullah Khan (9 September 1894 – 4 February 1960) was the last ruling Nawab of the princely salute state of Bhopal. He ruled from 1926 when his mother, Begum Kaikhusrau Jahan Begum, abdicated in his favour, until 1949 and held ...

(last

Nawab of Bhopal The Nawabs of Bhopal were the Muslim rulers of Bhopal, now part of Madhya Pradesh, India. The nawabs first ruled under the Mughal Empire from 1707 to 1737, under the Maratha Confederacy from 1737 to 1818, then under British rule from 1818 to 19 ...

) became the “Patrons” of the new company.

Malik Ghulam Muhammad Sir Malik Ghulam Muhammad (20 April 1895 – 29 August 1956) was a Pakistani politician and economist who served as the third governor-general of Pakistan from 1951 to 1955. Educated at the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), he joined the India ...

helped to arrange substantial subscriptions from the State of

Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

and State and

Bhopal Bhopal (; ISO 15919, ISO: Bhōpāl, ) is the capital (political), capital city of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh and the administrative headquarters of both Bhopal district and Bhopal division. It is known as the ''City of Lakes,'' due to ...

. Sir Victor Sassoon became the largest foreign shareholder and

Mirza Ahmad Ispahani Mirza Ahmad Ispahani (1898–1986) was a Perso-Bengali businessman based in Chittagong and the patriarch of the Ispahani family. He was the founder of Orient Airways and the first chairman of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA). He was the ch ...

bought most of the shares of the EFU. The company officially started as a general insurance company. In 1936, life business of the company started with a paid-for business of about Rs. 5.0 million. By 1946 the company started to move ahead steadily but major upheaval of the century had occurred, in which Muslims all over the sub-continent sustained immense loss, both of life and property after creation of Pakistan. The EFU management transferred its registered office to

Chittagong Chittagong ( ), officially Chattogram, (, ) (, or ) is the second-largest city in Bangladesh. Home to the Port of Chittagong, it is the busiest port in Bangladesh and the Bay of Bengal. The city is also the business capital of Bangladesh. It ...

before partition. The company completed a new Life Business of Rs. 4.5 million by 1947 and during 1948 transacted a total business of Rs. 13.9 million. The EFU shifted its head office to

Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

, West Pakistan in May 1950. In 1952, the company hired

Khuda Buksh Khuda Buksh (1 February 1912 – 13 May 1974) was an Bengali life insurance salesman and humanitarian from the Indian subcontinent. For four decades he represented the "life and soul of the insurance industry" throughout the region, leaving a m ...

, an inspector from Oriental Governmental Security Life Assurance, Calcutta, as life manager for East Pakistan. Buksh, introduced a system of training classes and expanded the entire field organization on scientific lines. The company thereafter continued showing tremendous upward trend in its paid-for business from 25 million in 1953 to 76.7 million in 1960. During the same period the premium income of the company went up from Rs. 3.3 million to Rs. 11.9 million. In 1960, the company almost reached the door of bankruptcy due to bad underwriting against marine hull business on overseas account. Abbas Khaleeli, a former bureaucrat and Roshen Ali Bhimjee, owner of Insurance Agency Pak Underwriters were credited for averting the bankruptcy. Subsequently,

disinvested his shares and major shares were taken by the “Habib family”, ARAG Limited and rest was distributed to the public. Abbas Khaleeli and Roshen Ali Bhimjee officially took over the company on 1 January 1961.

worked for the company as life manager, deputy life manager and general manager from 1960 to April 1969. He was recognized as the “driving force” who “had successfully helped to grow the company into the leading and dominating position” in the country. During the 1960s, EFU became the largest company in the

Afro-Asian Afro-Asians, African Asians, Blasians, or simply Black Asians are people of mixed Asian and African ancestry. Historically, Afro-Asian populations have been marginalised as a result of human migration and social conflict. Africa Democratic ...

countries excluding

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. In March 1971, the

Bangladesh War of Liberation The Bangladesh Liberation War (, ), also known as the Bangladesh War of Independence, was an War, armed conflict sparked by the rise of the Bengali nationalism, Bengali nationalist and self-determination movement in East Pakistan, which res ...

led to creation of modern Bangladesh in December 1971 when the EFU lost its eastern division. Bangladesh nationalized all Pakistan based and local life insurance companies in August 1972. In Pakistan, after 1972 the EFU operated solely as a general Insurance company. In 1992, the Government of Pakistan opened up life insurance to the private sector and EFU was reorganized and EFU Life Assurance Ltd. was incorporated in 1992 as the first private sector life insurance company. In 1992, the Government of Pakistan opened up life insurance to the private sector and EFU Life Assurance Ltd. was incorporated in 1992 as the first private sector life insurance company. EFU commenced writing group life insurance business in the same year, individual life business in 1994 and is today the largest life insurance company in the private sector in the country.

Subsidiaries

It comprises the following three companies: * EFU General Insurance Limited * EFU Life Assurance Limited * EFU Health Insurance Limited

EFU House

The

EFU House Qamar House, now known as the EFU Building, is a building in central Karachi, Pakistan, designed in the Art Deco architectural style by Qamardin Mahomed Hashwani in 1945 and built on Muhammad Ali Jinnah Road between 1946 and 1955 by Qamardin & ...

was acquired by the company in 2002. The former name of the building is Qamar House.

Notes

References

* * * * * ** ** {{DEFAULTSORT:Efu Life Pakistani companies established in 1992 Companies based in Karachi Financial services companies established in 1992 Insurance companies of Pakistan Companies listed on the Pakistan Stock Exchange Companies in the KSE 100 Index Financial services companies established in 1932 1932 establishments in British India Pakistani brands Indian companies established in 1932