Promote Life Insurance with Tax Incentives
On account of the large number of insurable population in India, the Finance Ministry is planning to promote life insurance policies by making them more attractive for investors by way of tax incentives.

As a first course of action, Finance Ministry is contemplating to look at the viability of exempting the first year premium and also the single premium from service tax. The Ministry has plans to bring more life insurance policies under the scope of tax exemption.

In this regard, Mr. Chidambaram, Finance Minister, had discussions with the IRDA Chairman Mr. J Hari Narayan as also the top honchos of Life Insurance Companies regarding accelerating the growth of the insurance sector.

Measures to revive life insurance on the anvil – IRDA
When the insurable population is on the rise and the non-reach of insurance to the rural sector, the focus should be on simple insurance products that the less literate / illiterate people understand. Hence, with the view to penetrate the insurable population, IRDA has consented to introduce processes that would enable faster clearance of products proposed to be rolled out by the insurance companies and opening up bancassurance.

In this regard IRDA plans to introduce a unique system called ‘use & file system” for certain standard products. More over, IRDA also plans to expand the list of such standard products at the request of the Government. If the companies have complied with the terms and conditions attached to the standard product, the same will be deemed to be approved after 15 days of intimation to IRDA.

IRDA is planning to lay down some standard principles underlying the design of insurance product. Post November, once the principles are set, IRDA will clear the products within 30 days.

Another important break through in this line is that the IRDA has permitted the banks to act as brokers so that they can sell insurance products of more than one insurance company. As of now, bancassurance revolves on the ‘one bank one insurance company’ policy. This will enable the customer to choose the appropriate product from a group of products from different companies. This would also help in averting mis-selling.

Magic Board from IndiaFirst Life Insurance
Magic Board is an integrated portable fulfillment device for a fully-compliant and efficient customer sales and service process. Dr. P. Nandagopal, MD & CEO has launched the Magic Board in Mumbai.

While speaking on the occasion, Mr. P. Nandagopal said "MagicBoard is a revolutionary idea in that it not only automates and simplifies the sales processes at the customer end, but in a single platform, it connects the customer with the distributor, employees and the insurance organization in a 360 degree integration where every stakeholder has a single page view in his hand-held tablet PC for real-time information, intelligence and intervention.”

According to Dr. Nadnagopal, IndiaFirst has paved way for a new world of insurance that is simple, transparent, truthful and efficient to benefit all the stakeholders - customer, distributor, shareholder and employee.

SBI to distribute excess payments to policyholders
As per IRDA guidelines, life insurance companies should not make any bulk discounts to the agents, corporate agents and the group managers. They are also now allowed to pay any money towards document charges or any other management expenses.

Contrary to this guideline, SBI Life Insurance has incurred some payments towards reimbursement of group administrative expenses to various master policyholders. According to IRDA, these payments to the master policyholders are against the interests of the general pool of policyholders. To this effect, IRDA has already imposed a penalty of Rs. 70 lakhs during July 2011.

Hence IRDA has directed SBI Life to distribute the ‘wrongful administrative charge amongst the respective members/beneficiaries f each Master Policy by way of refund”.

Based on the directives of IRDA, SBI Life now has to identify the member or beneficiaries for each Master Policy against which the reimbursements were made towards the administrative expenses as a percentage of premiums. IRDA has also ordered the completion of this refund process within six months.

Two Health Insurance Plans on the roll out from Reliance Life
Reliance Life has filed two health insurance plans and is awaiting the approval for the same from IRDA. One of the Plans is the Reimbursement Health Plan while the other is a simple fixed benefit plan.

According to Mr. Malay Ghosh, President and Executive Director, these two new plans will strengthen the existing health plans and also will help consolidate their position in the health insurance vertical in the insurance sector. Mr. Ghosh said, "Our venture and journey into the health insurance sector is a natural extension of our life insurance business. We aim to help people meet their health care exigencies and expenses at every stage of life effectively on the back of a slew of health products.”

Do your services beyond premium collection – Reliance Life Insurance
Reliance Life Insurance is a joint venture with its strategic partner Nippon Life, Japan with 26% stake. Since customer centric service activities form the base for the company’s insurance business in Japan, Nippon Life plans to implement the same in India as well.

Sustained growth of any consumer product company relies largely on a continued customer relationship through post-sales service that includes, apart from maintenance and after-sales services to the equipments and products, helping customers with suggestions and advices for years after the actual sales.

Inspired by the 'Zutto Motto' (Forever More Service) service of Nippon Life, Reliance Life Insurance (RIL) has introduced a structured post-sales customer service platform which is a first of its kind. The company has directed its staff, advisors and channel partners to be in touch with at least about 10% of its existing customers (over 10 lakh customers) before the end of the current financial year. This post sale service extends beyond premium collection.

The company plans to meet over one million customers by March 2013.

According to Mr. Malay Ghosh, insurance business is long term product and the customers’ financial and other needs may change from time to time. Hence it is very vital on the part of the agency force to periodically meet the customers and find out their changing needs during different life stages. This will also enable the agents to sell the new products to the existing customers apart from acquiring new prospects.

New Distribution Channel – Life Plaza from RIL
With a view to spread wider awareness about life insurance, Reliance Life Insurance Company (RLIC), has introduced a new distribution channel -- Life Plaza -- a first-of-its-kind sales and service initiative by any insurer in India.

This platform of Life Plaza is aimed at creating awareness about life insurance and meet the needs of customers through appropriate financial planning vis-à-vis the difference insurance products and services.

According to Mr Malay Ghosh, Life Plaza will help the company to promote need-based sales, fill service gap and also offer financial and value added services such as tax and financial planning. The services under Life Plaza would also include Aadhar card registration, pan card generation, health check-ups and nutrition counseling.

RLIC employees will manage the Life Plazas by handling the customer queries and process the documentation instantly at the venue.

Syndicate Bank to jump into Insurance Sector
According to media reports, Syndicate Bank plans to enter insurance business through a joint venture partner. The Bank is expected to come out with the details of its joint venture partner following the approval from RBI and IRDA.

Syndicate Bank has tied up with General Insurance Company for selling general insurance products to its customers and also with Tata AAG for Group Life Insurance for the benefits of the housing loan customers.

A new bouquet of Life Insurance Products from SBI Life
SBI Life has filed several insurance products such as savings, protection and pension plans with IRDA and awaiting regulatory approval.

Post approval from IRDA, SBI Life is expected to launch four new products that include a Family Income Protection Plan, a Monthly Income Savings Plan, a Traditional Pension Plan and a Market Linked Plan (ULIP) targeting younger audience.

SBI Life has designed several products on variety of need-based platforms during the financial year 2011-12. These included Health Insurance – Hospital Cash, Variable Insurance – FlexiSmart, Traditional Savings – Smart Money Back and Immediate Annuity – Annuity Plus.

Future Generali insures Falguni Pathak’s Ta-Thaiya Group
Future Generali has insured Falguni Pathak’s Ta-Thaiya Group for the Navaratri Utsav 2012 against contingencies due to perils against any mishap during or before the event of Dandya.

The total sum insured for the event by Future Generali is Rs. 4.18 crores.

The event has been organized by Mangal Entertainment Pvt Ltd and 3rd Rock Multimedia.

Vineet Patni at Bharati AXA Life Insurance
Bharti AXA Life Insurance has appointed Vineet Patni as its new Chief Distribution Officer (CDO). Mr. Patni was the Board Member and chairperson of the Audit Committee for Commercial International Life Insurance Co. Ltd.

Mr. Vineet will be responsible for all the Distribution Channels of the company including Agency, Direct Sales Force, Strategic and Partner businesses.

HDFC Life wins inaugural ‘Porter Prize’ for strategy
HDFC Life, has won Porter Prize for its significant initiatives that had enabled the company to align its common goal of ‘being a significant Insurance player and be spoken in the same breath as Life Insurance Corporation of India. India’s largest private insurer, HDFC Life has won this award for ‘leveraging unique activities’ in strategy across the organization. When the total participants were 120, HDFC Life was among the six winners.

On receiving this award, Amitabh Chaudhry, MD & CEO, HDFC Life said, “We are thrilled to have been awarded the Porter Prize in the category of ‘Leveraging Unique Activities’. We have always tried to differentiate ourselves by focusing on the long term horizon rather than short term, and stuck to rapid innovation with products and services. This award has encouraged us and motivates us to pave the way to bring in more innovation and competitive spirit in the company. It will also enable us to become more attuned to the principles of competitive strategy.”

The Porter Prize has been constituted for Indian Companies by Institute for Competitiveness (India), the Indian knot in the global network of the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness at Harvard Business School. Porter Prize is based on four major pillars to identify and reward the most outstanding companies for their Strategy.

Mukesh Dhawan as Dy. CEO and CDO for TAT AIA Life
Mr. Mukesh Dhawan has been appointed as Dy CEO and Chief Distribution Officer of Tata AIA Life Insurance Company Ltd. He will take over his position with immediate effect and will be reporting to Mr. Suresh Mahalingam, the MD and CEO. Mr. Dhawan will be responsible for developing and implementing new strategies in marketing, product development and distribution.

Mr. Dhawan brings with him versatile experience in the Indian insurance sector as also other Asian markets over a decade. He is known for his strategic initiative in bringing up high standards of sales force by taking them to Million Dollar Round Table membership though fast track. The MDRT membership from AIA’s subsidiaries numbers stands around 2000 numbers for 2011-12.

Archives | Top