Bloomfield health insurer Cigna Corp. has assigned a name and a senior executive to its joint partnership to expand its health coverage into India.
Based in Mumbai, Cigna TTK is the partnership between Cigna and Indian conglomerate TTK Group. Pending approval from India’s regulatory authorities, Cigna TTK will begin operations in early 2013, authorities say.
Cigna and TTK first aired their partnership in November.
Sandeep Patel, managing director of Cigna Health Solutions India Pvt. Ltd., has been named the joint venture’s CEO. Since joining Cigna in 1998, Patel has served in several leadership roles and functions including the expansion and management of Cigna’s business in the Middle East region.
Cigna sees India as an important market for its future. Home to 1.2 billion people – one-sixth of the world’s population – India is undergoing public health changes and challenges, including a rise in diabetes and hypertension.
As a result, Cigna says the nation’s health care spending is expected to grow significantly over the next decade, driving the need for developing and leveraging successful health management programs and systems.
In late December, The Journal Inquirer reported that Cigna plans to lay off 50 to 60 of its 3,900 Connecticut employees as the insurance giant farms out accounting work to a subcontractor in New Delhi.
