According to the information forwarded to the BSE by Indiabulls Financial Services, the April-last-year joint venture agreement between the company and the second-largest French lender Societe Generale (SG) has been quashed with mutual consent of both the companies.

For its proposed life insurance joint venture with SG, Indiabulls had earlier received the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)’s special consent for holding up to 74 percent in the undertaking; while SG would have had a 26 percent stake - the maximum stake allowed by FDI in the insurance sector.

The materialization of the joint venture would have placed Indiabulls at par with RBI-regulated banks like HDFC, SBI, and ICICI, which too have received the RBI’s special dispensation to hold up to 74 percent stake in their life insurance ancillaries.

Indiabulls said that while it was keen to pursue the joint venture, it was primarily SG’s decision to withdraw from the partnership just prior to the launching operations, largely because it is currently facing financial problems globally as an upshot of the economic crisis.

The sources in-the-know revealed: “But for the financial problems with SG, the JV would have kickstarted in March this year. The delay was caused by SG and ultimately led to the closure of the deal.”

Sources also said that Indiabulls has already begun its pursuit of a new foreign partner to replace SG in the joint venture.