Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance join forces with Thomas Cook India

Thomas Cook, India's largest provider of integrated travel solutions is joining hands with Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance, one of the leading private sector life insurance companies in India to provide life insurance solutions.

Madhavan Menon, Managing Director, Thomas Cook (India) believes that this partnership will help them elevate the quality of service offered to their customers.

Life insurance solutions will be offered at Thomas Cook retail offices, e-business site and other locations.

UK interested in Indian Insurance market

Indian economy’s promising growth holds a great potential for the future. Owing to their struggling economy, large UK companies are keen on making a major play for a slice of the Indian insurance market.

Authorities are eager to make sure that domestic companies benefit from the boom in Indian insurance sector. No foreign companies are allowed to control Indian insurance companies and this has resulted in a number of joint ventures favouring Indian partners.

Employing approaches of the west, Indian companies along with their UK partners are ready to harvest the rewards. India and many other countries will attract US business partners for the UK economy is coming under more pressure.

Indian Insurance facing staff shortage

Peter Dunphy, chief executive of recruitment consultants Darwin Rhodes Group, one of the world's leading recruitment consultants said at the Actuaries conference, that relaxing regulations in Indian insurance have resulted in jobs vacuum. This he says, need to be filled by talented actuarial staff and other specialists.

Mr. Dunphy says that the insurance industry has witnessed significant growth in the past two years with the establishment of European and US insurance companies in Mumbai and Delhi.

Darwin Rhodes has been nominated every year from 2001 to 2007 in the UK Pensions Awards for 'Best Recruitment Consultancy'.

Insurance Companies in India – Updated List (June 2008)

Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) and General Insurers (GIC) were the only two state insurers in the earlier stage of Insurance Industry. GIC had four subsidiary companies.

From Dec’2000, these subsidiaries were de-linked from parent company and made as an independent insurance companies. Namely Oriental Insurance Company Limited, New India Assurance Company Limited, National Insurance Company Limited and United India Insurance Company Limited.

Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) issued the first batch of licenses in June 2001.

Following are the players in Indian Market as on June 2001.

REINSURERS:

GENERAL INSURANCE CORPORATION OF INDIA.

Canara, HSBC and OBC life insurance co launched

Two of India’s largest nationalized banks, Canara Bank and OBC - and HSBC Insurance (Asia Pacific) Holdings Ltd has entered into a partnership and has become operational from 16th June 2008.

The company with its headquarters in Gurgaon is capitalised at Rs 325 crore. Canara bank holds the majority stake of 51% while HSBC and OBC hold 26 per cent and 23 per cent respectively.

Eight types of life insurance policies along with a mix of traditional and unit-linked schemes is offered. The company plans to concentrate on the bancassurance model.

Drop in new sales in Life insurance industry

Incessant volatility in the stock market has reduced the sales of unit-linked insurance plans (Ulips).

A fall of 6.77% in growth is recorded in life insurance industry this year compared to the 100 per cent last year. Life Insurance Corporation has seen a steady decrease in demand from single premium Ulips.

Private players market share has gone up to 55.11 per cent and the public sector behemoth share is 44.88 per cent this month.

A CEO of an insurance company says that the volatility in the stock market will increase the sales of pension products, health insurance and traditional products.

A new product by Birla Sun Life Insurance

Birla Sun Life Insurance Platinum Plus is the new product launched by Birla Sun Life Insurance (BSLI). This product is aimed at lowering investment and optimising risks.

This product is first of its kind in the Indian Insurance Industry. The Insurance Platinum Plus is a short pay, medium-term unit linked insurance plan which offers guaranteed maturity unit price.

Guaranteed maturity unit price and the choice to lower annual premium in the second and third year subject to minimum of Rs 1-lakh are some of its unique features.

"With the Platinum Plus, not only will our policy-holders participate in the equity market but they will also enjoy a guaranteed maturity unit price--the maximum unit price recorded on the 15th of each calendar month till June 15, 2015," the release said.

Indian Insurance sector is reaching for the stars

Indian insurance industry is expected to record an extraordinary growth of 200% and reach a size of Rs. 2000 billion by 2009-10. The growth rate of private sector insurance will hit 140% with its aggressive marketing technique while the state owned insurance would witness a growth rate of 35-40%.

The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) have made the above-mentioned findings on `Insurance in Next 2 Years’. According to the association the insurance sector has grown by CAGR of around 175% and is expected to grow more. At present the estimated size of the insurance sector is Rs. 500 billion.

The private insurance companies offer a wide range of policies and are highly competitive compared to the state owned insurance companies. The Association has observed that the private players have gained attention in rural areas where the state players had the monopoly so far.

The ASSOCHAM finds rural India more promising in bringing in insurance business. For this, the needs and requirement of village dwellers have to be understood by the insurance companies. Awareness, it says is says, is the major key in letting people know the benefits of insurance.

The association considers it important to deliver unique policies suiting the needs of rural people.

HSBC to venture in Indian Life Insurance market

HSBC Insurance Asia-Pacific along with Canara Bank and Oriental Bank of Commerce (OCB) has signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding to develop a new life insurance company.

HSBC will be offering a wide range of management services, from providing executives for senior roles and experience in products among others. It will grant approximately $40 million of the entire $73 million and hold 26% interest in the new firm.

Canara bank will be the primary stakeholder and will provide $23 of capitalisation to the new life insurer and The New Delhi-based OCB will offer approximately $10 million in capital. Canara bank and OCB take a stake of 51% and 23% respectively.

The new venture will be launched this year and is expected cover a full range of insurance products offered for sale in India.

Investment – the driving tool to Max New York Life Insurance’s growth strategy

Max New York Life Insurance Co Ltd is escalating its investment function as a part of Mission Everest, the growth strategy of the company. The company plans to offer better value for its customers by strengthening its investment desk with more analysts and fund managers.

The company’s Growth Super Fund has performed extraordinarily during the volatile period in the equity markets. Growth Super Fund provided a return on investment of 20.2% as on 30th May 2008 and the company has announced completion of one year of its Growth.

Max New York Life provides a wide range of funds in various products. The company’s priority is to cater to the needs of the customers.

The company also has a dedicated Dynamic Opportunities fund. Here the manager allocates the funds depending on valuation levels of capital markets. In this, exposure to equities is reduced at higher levels and increased at lower levels.

Max New York Life Insurance decided to venture into 100% equity fund after its consistent investment performance. The company has set standards with its range of flexible life and health insurance products backed by superior service.

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