SBI Life Launches Smart Power Insurance Plan
SBI Life Insurance has launched Smart Power Insurance Plan which is designed to meet the investor’s twin needs of insurance and investment. This plan comes with two options viz. level cover option and increasing cover option and would be available to the public from 7th October 2013. It also offers an advantage of adding an inbuilt 'Accelerated Total and Permanent Disability' (TPD) benefit, advancing the policy benefit in case of TPD due to accident or sickness.

Atanu Sen, MD, CEO of SBI Life remarked that Smart Power Insurance plan is a simple, low premium product that takes care of the changing needs of the policy holder as his income increases while giving him flexibility of periodic increase in sum assured and partial withdrawal.

Insurance Business to touch Rs. 4 trillion in FY14
According to an IRDA report, insurance business in India is expected to reach a height of Rs. 4 trillion during 2013-14.

To substantiate this estimate, IRDA chairman TS Vijayan said that the total premium collected by both general and life insurance industry stood at Rs. 3.75 trillion last year.

HIV-AIDS Patients Get Their Lives Covered from April 1, 2014
The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) has issued a draft circular on “Life Insurance Products for People Living with HIV / AIDS (PLHA)” to all insurers. It was mentioned in the circular that all life insurers should put-in place Board approved underwriting policy relating to life insurance products to cover PLHA.

The life insurance cover for PLHA will not be denied if the eligibility criteria according to the Board approved underwriting policy are satisfied. The underwriting policy should clearly indicate the specific loadings applicable for PLHA with reference to the different stages of the disease.

The Circular comes into effect from April 01, 2014. All the insurers should put in place the Board approved underwriting manual, clams manual, proposal form and all the other necessary systems before this date.

HDFC Life Awarded for HR-Excellence
HDFC Life, has been awarded the prestigious ‘Golden Peacock HR Excellence Award’ in the Insurance category. This award has been given to HDFC Life, one of the largest players in the field of insurance, for its effective HR and People management. These practices as being applied in HDFC Life align with the needs of the business, profession, employees, industry and the nation.

The Golden Peacock Awards have been instituted since 1991 by the Institute of Directors (IOD) a non-profit apex body of directors registered in India. The awards framework is based on IOD Business Excellence Model which conforms to the ISO 9001:2000 standard series and is comparable with similar frameworks around the globe.

New Traditional Plan from BSLI
Birla Sun Life Insurance has planned to launch a traditional plan which aims to meet the twin ended needs of the investors namely saving and insurance. This Plan is a participating plan with guaranteed additions for the first five years of the policy term. This plan offers a three-fold solution to the investors by way of its guaranteed additions, bonus accumulation and life insurance cover.

Customers can opt for a premium payment term of 10, 15 or 20 years with the minimum age of entry at 18 years and the maximum at 50 years. At inception, the customer needs to choose the sum assured, the policy term and the premium payment term. The minimum sum assured for this plan is Rs. 30, 000.

SBI Life wins Global Performance Excellence Award, 2013
SBI Life Insurance has won the Global Performance Excellence Award (GPEA) 2013 by Asia Pacific Quality Organisation’s (APQO) under Large Service Organizations category. The award was presented at the 19th APQO / International Conference on Quality at Bali, Indonesia on 09th October, 2013.

SBI Life is the only organization from India to have won the World Class Award in Large Service category. Mr. Atanu Sen, MD & CEO, SBI Life said, “We owe the recognition to our robust holistic processes which keep the satisfaction of our customers as the focal point. This achievement is by far the biggest for SBI Life as GPEA is a global quality recognition in the field of organizational performance excellence. Such laurels not only bring global recognition but also bestow a huge responsibility on us to continually improve our service and performance standards. This award is a significant milestone in our journey towards achievement of our Vision and will inspire us to surge ahead with more determination and commitment.”

The Global Performance Excellence Award (GPEA) is administered by the Asia Pacific Quality Organization (APQO), a non-profit organization that serves as an umbrella group to bring together the leading quality professional societies from countries that border on the Pacific Ocean or are considered Asian or Pacific Rim nations.

LIC to have Nominees on Board of all Companies
Rajiv Takru, Secretary, Department of Financial Services, said that, with the objective of protecting shareholder interests, Life Insurance Corporation of India should have its nominees on boards of all companies in which it has huge investments.

At present, LIC, India's largest institutional investor, is represented in only 73 of the 123 companies in which it can appoint directors.

Traditional Whole Life Insurance Plan by BSLI
Aligning with the trend that the overall life expectancy in India is increasing, Birla Sun Life Insurance, has launched traditional participating whole life insurance plan, BSLI Vision LifeSecure Plan. This traditional plan offers an ideal combination of regular bonuses throughout the policy term and life insurance benefit till the age of 100. This plan offers maturity and death benefits along with accrued and terminal bonus if any. This plan also offers flexibility to the investor to choose the sum assured and the policy term at the time of taking the policy.

The insurance cover will continue till the insured attains 100 years of age. In case of death during this period or survival to age 100 (whichever first), the guaranteed death benefit is payable.

On maturity of the policy, the policyholder gets sum assured plus accrued regular bonus and terminal bonus if any. In the event of the death of the policyholder, guaranteed death benefit plus accrued regular bonuses till that period plus terminal bonus if any would be paid to the nominee of the policy.

Max Life Sustains its Growth Trajectory
Max Life Insurance has sustained its growth graph during the first half of the financial year 2013-14 by recording its new business premium of Rs. 904 crores as against its corresponding period last year by 11%. The Insurer also has sustained its rank as 4th largest private life insurer. The Gross Written Premium of the Company grew 4% to Rs. 3,005 crore.

Following the robust performance during the first half of FY 2013-14, the Company has declared an interim dividend of Rs. 128 crores to its shareholders which is over 29% as compared to its dividend announcement during the previous year. The Company has also performed well on other business parameters during this period as compared to the corresponding period during previous year. Assets under Management increased by 13% to Rs. 21,735 crore from September 2013. Sum Assured in-force (Individual and Group ) at Rs. 186,841 crore, recorded an increase of 18%. Solvency Ratio of 521%, more than 3 times the mandatory 150%, indicates the Company’s strong and stable financial position.

Old Plans to Phase out by 31st December 2013 – IRDA
IRDA’s deadline for clearing the old products was 1st October 2013. However, extension of time has been given by The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) for phasing out the old products in the traditional segment till 31st December 2013.

As per the new guidelines of IRDA for life insurance products, while the minimum death benefit and surrender value was altered for traditional product customers who stay invested in a policy for a longer period, in the case of unit-linked products (Ulips) insurers had to intimate customers about changes in the yield of the Ulip every month. There was also ban in the sale of highest NAV products which were not protecting the customer interest.

The new guidelines have categorised life insurance products into three broad categories -- traditional insurance plans, variable insurance plans (VIPs) and unit-linked plans. The new guidelines have reduced commission on short-term policies, while commission amount has been linked to the premium paying period for all products. Besides, the changes also aim at bringing traditional products at par with ULIPs in terms of charges.

Life insurance sector to grow to new heights by 2020
Report from the BCG Group reveals that the Indian Life Insurance industry is expected to grow 2 to 2.5 times by 2020.

According to the BCG Report, the Sector is likely to remain flat for the next couple of years at 12-16%; the top 10 companies are expected to grow and the smaller players will have to strive hard to survive.

Derailing of India's economic growth, topline focused industry model and drastic regulatory changes are the major three key factors that are responsible for the slowing down performance of the industry.

RIL to Focus on Traditional Plans
Reliance Life has undergone a considerable product folio change. The company is focusing on traditional products with a view to enhance insurance penetration into the country. This has resulted in 80% business from the traditional products and 20% from the ULIPs.

This product change has become more viable owing to the new regulations from IRDA which make the traditional products more transparent and customer-friendly with their larger cover and higher flexibility.

According to Anup Rao, CEO of Reliance Life, the new guidelines serve the ultimate and long-term purpose of life insurance -- protection and fulfilment of long-term goals. I am confident that they will promote need-based selling and higher life insurance cover, offer better surrender values and improved disclosures and provide simpler and more customer-friendly insurance plans. . RIL also has long term plans to spread their wings into rural India and tier II and Tier III towns and villages.

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