Pantaloon Retail Ltd. has announced its plan to sell its stake worth 22.5% in its life insurance venture with Italian Assicurazioni Generali S.p.A to India's Industrial Investment Trust Ltd.

The sale is part of Pantaloon's move to generate funds to cut its debt totaling 34 billion rupees at the end of December last year.

Growth in the Indian insurance industry plummeted since the insurance regulator in the country in 2008 implemented rules to minimize commissions paid by firms to insurance agents for selling products. The sluggish improvement in the sector has been also attributed to the lack of awareness about life cover.

A source to the matter divulged that Pantaloon received about 3.0 billion rupees from the sale.