mumbai insurance regulatory and development authority irda has granted an inprinciple approval to the state bank of india sbi for its proposed nonlife joint venture with iag of australiain its board meet on wednesday the regulator also approved a life insurance joint venture led by bank of baroda and uks legal and general with the inprinciple approval the two jvs have cleared the r1 or the first of a threestage process in acquiring a licence to do business the partners have to finalise the second stage and submit their business plan while in the third stage they will receive permission to commence business after they bring in the required capitalsbi had identified iag as a partner a year ago however its application to irda got delayed because of the global financial crisis following the lehman collapse the joint venture company is likely to start operations in the fourth quarter of the current fiscal sbi will receive a substantial premium from iag which is keen to establish a presence in india sbis entry is expected to shake the nonlife industry because the bank has a distribution network of close to 14000 branches and is a formidable player in auto and home loans the banks leadership position in this business is expected to give it a strong foothold in auto insuranceirda has also cleared the application of bank of baroda for its joint venture with uk insurer legal general andhra bank is a third partner in the life venture with 30 stake bank of baroda and legal general hold 44 and 26 respectively former head of reliance life insurance p nandgopal is likely to head this jviag formerly known as insurance australia group provides insurance in malaysia and thailand in asia in china iag has a roadside assistance operation and insurance agent china automobile association caa