Ajay Bimbhet to head Royal Sundaram

02 August, 2007

Royal Sundaram today announced that Ajay Bimbhet will be joining as its Managing Director. The necessary approval from IRDA has been received.

This move follows current Managing Director Antony Jacobs appointment as the Regional Finance Director - Asia & Middle East, Royal & SunAlliance. Antony will continue to be a non-Executive Director on the Board of Royal Sundaram.

GK Raman, Chairman, Royal Sundaram commented: We are delighted that Ajay is joining us at this exciting period. We are confident that he will be able to build on the strong foundation that has been established over the past few years and deliver profitable growth for Royal Sundaram.

For Royal & SunAlliance, Paul Whittaker, CEO of Emerging Markets said: Ajay is a great choice for our Indian business and has an excellent track record of developing financial service businesses in the region. I am confident he will lead the operation into the next phase of its growth. He shares our vision of a rapidly expanding franchise in one of the world's most exciting insurance markets.

Note to Editors:

1. Ajay brings with him three decades of retail banking experience with majors such as ANZ Grindlays, Standard Chartered Bank, IDBI Bank and most recently with Deutsche Bank, India. At Deutsche Bank, he was Managing Director and Head, Private and Business Clients. Earlier, at IDBI Bank, he was acting CEO and Country Head - Retail Banking.

Ajay is now looking forward to entering the rapidly expanding insurance market at a time of de-regulation with increasing product and service innovation.

Ajay completed his Post-Graduation from the Delhi School of Economics in 1976. He is married, with two sons and lives in Mumbai.

2. About Royal Sundaram

Royal Sundaram Alliance Insurance Company Limited is a joint venture between Sundaram Finance and Royal & SunAlliance Insurance Group plc, UK, where the former holds 74% and the latter holds 26% of the equity of the venture. Royal Sundaram, the first Non-Life Insurer to be awarded a licence by the IRDA in October 2000, currently has over 1.7 million customers in its fold. Royal Sundaram reported a Gross Written Premium of Rs 601 crores and a Profit after tax of Rs.21 crores, for the year ended 31st March 2007.

Royal Sundarams range of innovative general Insurance products includes Motor, Health, Personal Accident, Home and Travel Insurance for individual customers, distributed through Agents, Distribution Partners, Affinities and Brokers. For Commercial clients, Royal Sundaram offers a wide range of specialised insurance covers in Fire, Marine, Engineering, Liability and Business Interruption risks apart from specially designed products for Small and Medium enterprises. Royal Sundaram currently has over 670 employees. Its products are distributed in over 150 cities across India.

3. About Sundaram Finance

Sundaram Finance, a Triple A rated Non-Banking Finance Company, is one of the most respected financial services companies in India. Sundaram Finances operations span Vehicle finance, Home mortgages, Asset management, General Insurance, Business process outsourcing, IT solutions and distribution of financial products. Sundaram Finance has a network of over 230 branches across India and has more than 2500 employees.

4. About Royal & SunAlliance

Royal & SunAlliance is one of the worlds leading multinational quoted insurance groups, with the capability to write business in over 130 countries and with major operations in the UK, Scandinavia, Canada, Ireland, the Middle East and Latin America. Focussing on general insurance, it has around 24,000 employees. In 2006, its net written premiums were £5.5bn. With an almost 300 year heritage, Royal & SunAlliance is the oldest insurance company in the world still trading under its original name.