CHENNAI: The United India Insurance Company has signed a pact with Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India Company for the provision of insurance for new vehicles.
The MoU will provide insurance for new vehicles at competitive rates and will also provide 'cashless repairs' at dealer's premises in case of accidents, a company press release here said.
The tie-up envisages United India Insurance, providing value added insurance services to all customers of HMSI through their dealer outlets across the country.
In the first stage, customers will be able to avail insurance cover for scooters and motorcycles purchased from the outlets. Subsequently, this will be expanded to include other personal lines insurances like dwellings, personal accident cover and health insurance, the release added.
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Insurance agents may get to sell products of all cos
DO you remember the last time you wanted to buy a general insurance product — be it a mediclaim, a householder's policy or an accident cover ? In all probability, you had to painstakingly compare every product feature and eventually opt for a particular policy based on your needs. This was because an agent from a particular company would neither inform you on product features of another insurer's products nor sell its products as he isn't allowed to do so.
If Insurance Regulatory & Development Authority (Irda) accepts the recommendations made by the N M Govardhan Committee on distribution channels, that could be history. To provide a holistic product range to consumers with comparison across products, the committee has proposed that retail insurance agents from general insurance companies be allowed to contract with multiple non-life companies and sell policies of more than one company. At present, an exclusivity clause in insurance regulation restricts an agent from working with more than one insurance company. "Retail insurance agents are a new concept to sell personal lines of products. The committee feels this will increase penetration of general insurance retail products," the committee recommended.
"Penetration levels of general insurance products are very low, even lower than life insurance products. The recommendation will help increase sale of general insurance policies including mediclaim covers and offer a wide range of option to his/her clients," said an analyst.
In a parallel development, the panel set up to look into senior citizens' health insurance aspects has suggested convergence of agents for health insurance plans. This means agents of any insurance company — private or public sector, life and general — can sell mediclaim and health plans of any other company. In effect, the agent will work as a broker for health covers. You as a customer will have a choice from a vast array of products both specialised and off the shelve.
If both the recommendations are accepted by the regulator, agents from general insurance companies will be able to sell an array of health covers both from life and non-life companies as well as offer a wide range of other non-life retail policies including accident covers, motor vehicle insurance, and householders policy.
Currently, there are 18 life insurance companies and another 18 general cover companies. Although not all 18 life companies have launched health covers, a handful of them have and a host of others are looking at launching the product. Following adoption of this norm, each of the 20 lakh life insurance agents and 10 lakh general insurance advisors will be able to sell health plans from 17 general insurance companies and 16 life cover companies. However, not all life insurers have started selling health insurance policies though all the non-life companies have more than one version of the product. The largest life insurer , Life Insurance Corporation of India, which has about 13 lakh agents has announced plans of selling health insurance plans.
If Insurance Regulatory & Development Authority (Irda) accepts the recommendations made by the N M Govardhan Committee on distribution channels, that could be history. To provide a holistic product range to consumers with comparison across products, the committee has proposed that retail insurance agents from general insurance companies be allowed to contract with multiple non-life companies and sell policies of more than one company. At present, an exclusivity clause in insurance regulation restricts an agent from working with more than one insurance company. "Retail insurance agents are a new concept to sell personal lines of products. The committee feels this will increase penetration of general insurance retail products," the committee recommended.
"Penetration levels of general insurance products are very low, even lower than life insurance products. The recommendation will help increase sale of general insurance policies including mediclaim covers and offer a wide range of option to his/her clients," said an analyst.
In a parallel development, the panel set up to look into senior citizens' health insurance aspects has suggested convergence of agents for health insurance plans. This means agents of any insurance company — private or public sector, life and general — can sell mediclaim and health plans of any other company. In effect, the agent will work as a broker for health covers. You as a customer will have a choice from a vast array of products both specialised and off the shelve.
If both the recommendations are accepted by the regulator, agents from general insurance companies will be able to sell an array of health covers both from life and non-life companies as well as offer a wide range of other non-life retail policies including accident covers, motor vehicle insurance, and householders policy.
Currently, there are 18 life insurance companies and another 18 general cover companies. Although not all 18 life companies have launched health covers, a handful of them have and a host of others are looking at launching the product. Following adoption of this norm, each of the 20 lakh life insurance agents and 10 lakh general insurance advisors will be able to sell health plans from 17 general insurance companies and 16 life cover companies. However, not all life insurers have started selling health insurance policies though all the non-life companies have more than one version of the product. The largest life insurer , Life Insurance Corporation of India, which has about 13 lakh agents has announced plans of selling health insurance plans.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Distributing insurance policies in rural India
One look at the sales figures for 2007-08 will reveal the distribution power of the life insurance industry. Last year, the industry sold over 5 crore insurance policies of which over 1.1 crore policies were sold in rural areas. Not the so-called rural areas which are today's industrial hubs, but the real rural areas in terms of the stringent definition set out by the insurance regulator.
The industry has over 2 million active agents on the streets who can reach a new financial product to a large chunk of the population within weeks of its launch. While this network is the backbone of the industry, it is also its weakness. One of the biggest challenges before the Life Insurance Council — an association of life insurance companies — is to convince members to spend more resources to ensure that agents are equipped to provide sound advice. At the same time the council has to convince the government, regulators and customers that there is a cost involved in maintaining a robust distribution network and the industry is justified in passing some of this cost to the consumers.
This task now falls on Sunil Behari Mathur, the new chief executive of the Life Insurance Council. After the former chief executive SV Mony retired last month, chiefs of life insurance companies elected to appoint Mr Mathur as the new representative for the industry. The good part is that Mr Mathur is quite well placed for the job. The former chairman of the Life Insurance Corporation has the stature to carry a diverse industry along with him. In fact, it was partly because of his support as the head of the country's largest life insurer that the council got formed.
Mr Mathur's track record at LIC also bodes well for the council.
As chairman, one of his immediate decision was the dismantling of the guaranteed return products which were proving to be a huge liability for the corporation. He also revamped investments focusing on longer-maturity investments. This helped island those expensive policies that guaranteed returns as high as 12%. Under his chairmanship LIC made aggressive use of its position as a premier institution to buy bulk blue chip shares pertaining to the Harshad Mehta scam from the administrator. Another change brought about by Mr Mathur during his tenure was the fine-tuning of the incentives to the development officers to make it more attuned to a market that was moving toward investment products.
A chartered accountant, Mr Mathur joined LIC as a direct recruit officer immediately after qualifying. He has worked in various divisions of LIC including the housing finance subsidiary and the Gulf operation of the company. After his retirement in 2006, he took charge as the administrator of the Special Undertaking for Unit Trust of India. The insurance industry will soon have a new regulator following the retirement of IRDA chairman CS Rao. The presence of Mr Mathur on board the council will ensure some continuity in a very dynamic industry.
The industry has over 2 million active agents on the streets who can reach a new financial product to a large chunk of the population within weeks of its launch. While this network is the backbone of the industry, it is also its weakness. One of the biggest challenges before the Life Insurance Council — an association of life insurance companies — is to convince members to spend more resources to ensure that agents are equipped to provide sound advice. At the same time the council has to convince the government, regulators and customers that there is a cost involved in maintaining a robust distribution network and the industry is justified in passing some of this cost to the consumers.
This task now falls on Sunil Behari Mathur, the new chief executive of the Life Insurance Council. After the former chief executive SV Mony retired last month, chiefs of life insurance companies elected to appoint Mr Mathur as the new representative for the industry. The good part is that Mr Mathur is quite well placed for the job. The former chairman of the Life Insurance Corporation has the stature to carry a diverse industry along with him. In fact, it was partly because of his support as the head of the country's largest life insurer that the council got formed.
Mr Mathur's track record at LIC also bodes well for the council.
As chairman, one of his immediate decision was the dismantling of the guaranteed return products which were proving to be a huge liability for the corporation. He also revamped investments focusing on longer-maturity investments. This helped island those expensive policies that guaranteed returns as high as 12%. Under his chairmanship LIC made aggressive use of its position as a premier institution to buy bulk blue chip shares pertaining to the Harshad Mehta scam from the administrator. Another change brought about by Mr Mathur during his tenure was the fine-tuning of the incentives to the development officers to make it more attuned to a market that was moving toward investment products.
A chartered accountant, Mr Mathur joined LIC as a direct recruit officer immediately after qualifying. He has worked in various divisions of LIC including the housing finance subsidiary and the Gulf operation of the company. After his retirement in 2006, he took charge as the administrator of the Special Undertaking for Unit Trust of India. The insurance industry will soon have a new regulator following the retirement of IRDA chairman CS Rao. The presence of Mr Mathur on board the council will ensure some continuity in a very dynamic industry.
Friday, May 9, 2008
Govt to ease insurance investment rules: FM
Govt to ease insurance investment rules: FM |
| Government will try to win agreement from coalition allies to ease restrictions on foreign investments in insurance, banking and pensions [...More] |
| Trichy tops in Rural Postal Life Insurance |
| The central region of Tamil Nadu postal circle headquartered at Trichy bagged the numero uno position in the country by selling Rs 1,017 crore worth of Rural Postal Life Insurance (RPLI) in 2007-08 [...More] |
| IRDA for 25% investment cap on group cos under ULIP |
| Insurance regulator IRDA has decided to tighten the exposure norms under the ULIP scheme by imposing a investment ceiling of 25 per cent on group firms. [...More] |
| Max New York Life Insurance launches SMART assure |
| Max New York Life Insurance today, introduced SMART Assure, a unit-linked insurance plan positioned to provide higher returns on higher investments. [...More] |
| Public less enthusiastic to market-linked insurance plans |
| Growth of ULIPs sale decelerates sharply in 2007-08 [...More] |
| 4 short-listed for IRDA top post |
| The race for the post of Chairman, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority, has begun. The short-listed candidates include two members from IRDA itself [...More] |
| BOB launches new health scheme in Oman |
| Bank of Baroda (BoB) has joined hands with insurance major New Indian Assurance company to launch a health insurance scheme in Oman [...More] |
| Life Insurance cover to BSNL/MTNL customers |
| BSNL has offered Personal Accident Policy for BSNL subscribers worth Rs.50,000/- which covers Accidental Death and Permanent Total Disability due to accident [...More] |
| ICICI Pru Life posts 49% biz growth |
| ICICI Prudential Life Insurance has raked in new business premium of Rs 6,519 crore in 2007-08, a growth of 49 per cent [...More] |
| Life insurance cos put in more money in stocks than MFs |
| New players and expansion in distribution network drive growth [...More] |
| Pvt insurers score over PSUs in premium collection |
| Private players in life and non-life insurance have reason to cheer as they have anchored the industry growth in a significant manner in the first half of 2007-08 by surpassing the public sector players in total premium [...More] |
| Pension plans will be key to urban market |
| Reliance Life Insurance is on a fast track and claims to have grown thrice as fast as private sector peers. [...More] |
| Private life insurers losses rise 80% in 2006-07 |
| Public sector general insurers record robust show [...More] |
| General Insurance Council may get motor pool ownership |
| IRDA was not in favour of the national reinsurer becoming an owner of the motor pool due to concerns that it would lead to a conflict of interest. [...More] |
| Promoters of insurance cos can do brokerage too: IRDA |
| Corporate houses which promote an insurance company can now foray into insurance broking as well without any regulatory hassles [...More] |
| Allow foreign investors in insurance firms: Plan Comm |
| India should consider allowing foreign investors to own a larger share in private sector insurance firms and usher in consolidation in state banks to boost service sector reforms [...More] |
| Lower solvency margins to give term-life plans a boost |
| The Insurance Regulatory & Development Authority (IRDA) call to life insurance companies, asking them to promote term insurance products. [...More] |
| Visva Bharati signs new insurance agreement with New India |
| Viswa Bharati University has signed a new insurance agreement with New India Assurance for insurance [...More] |
| More global insurance players eyeing Indian market |
| Global insurance majors are increasingly looking at the Indian market to foray or expand further [...More] |
| Meira Kumar launches Nirmaya Health Insurance Scheme for persons with Autism, Mental Retardation, Multiple Disabilities |
| The Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment, Smt. Meira Kumar has launched Nirmaya a Health Insurance Scheme for the welfare of persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and Multiple Disabilities [...More] |
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