Calcutta, Dec 1 :     Peerless General Finance and Investment Company Ltd (PGFICL) plans to return to the insurance sector. ?We are thinking of entering the insurance sector once the new Insurance Act comes into place. We have immense expertise in this sector. PGFICL will also be able to deploy its wide marketing network if it enters into the insurance sector,? S. K. Roy, managing director of PGFICL, said. Roy was speaking at the R.S. Roy birth centenary memorial seminar on small savings. Insurance will, however, not be a new business for Peerless. Radhey Shyam Roy, father of S.K. Roy, had initially set up an insurance company, Peerless Insurance Company Ltd, in 1932 with a capital of Rs 300. Soon after incorporation, the company became one of the leading provident fund companies in the country. Roy said PGFICL is well equipped to provide insurance services, being the country?s largest residuary non-banking finance company (RNBC) with a four-crore customer base and access to urban, semi-urban and even the inaccessible, remote rural heartland. A.C. Chakraborti, a director on the PGFICL board and the keynote speaker at the seminar, emphasised that the future of the company lies in the insurance business. He said the company, which has a deposit base of Rs 7,000 crore, should become more lean and thin to survive the fierce competition in the financial sector. ?If we cannot make the organisation lean and thin, then we have to increase the volume of business several times so as to absorb the rising cost,? he said. Peerless had organised a panel discussion on small savings. The speakers included economist Mihir Rakshit, A.N. Poddar, chairman and managing director of National Insurance Company, Biswajit Chowdhury, chairman and managing director of United Bank of India and writer Sanjib Chattopadhyay. The panel discussion was conducted by Alak Ghosh. It may be mentioned that Peerless had recently embarked on a restructuring exercise, disinvesting in 39 companies. It managed to make a profit of Rs 28 crore due to the selloff. PGFICL has an investment of Rs 354 crore in 253 listed scrips and 21 unlisted scrips.