BHARGAV DASGUPTA MD | ICICI Lombard
Career | Began with erstwhile ICICI in 1992; has held key leadership positions in diverse business areas; set up ICICI Bank's international ops; took over his current role in May 2009
Achievements | Made ICICI Lombard a key player in govt's universal health insurance programme
The general
insurance
business
m ay b e
rocky but
it's alsoon a roll.Even after 10 years, few companies are making money
in itbutthathasn'tstopped
the industry from growing
at a very health 30%.Not bad
since most sectors are currently facing a slowdown. Despite that growth, the general or non-life business is only a tenth of the life insurance industry. Also,unlikelife,it never got good valuations because it was felt that you could only lose money in a business where the biggestdrivers—health and motor—were still unprofitable.
So when we met up with the ICICI Lombard head honcho Bhargav Dasgupta, referred to as BDG, the comparisons were bound to capture a good part of the initial conversation. In keeping with ICICI group's philosophy, the current size of the industry is never seen as a constraint, and so naturally Dasgupta is quite gung-ho about his business.Theoptimism perhaps is also driven in equal measure by its position as the market leader – it's the largest non-life and health insurer. With health insurance portability around the corner, it is well placed to draw customers from PSU insurers,butDasgupta is non-committal abouthisstrategy.Hedoes talk about another strategy though. He is not that focused on increasing topline or increasing profits as he is on growing the industry itself. Besides, he also feels that by bargaining down prices with healthcare providers, thehealth insurance business can become profitable.
Dasgupta, a sports enthusiast (plays tennis to keep fit), opens up quickly enough, much like the open-space architecture of his newly purchased office in CentralMumbai'sPrabhadevi—now the company's headquarters.Butitcouldbe a bittooopen for some people as we notice executives facing job interviews and prying eyes within that architectural theme.
The 45-year-old banker, who has been with the ICICI group from the start, suggests that the non-life industry is still in its early stages. "Although the industry was opened up 10 years ago, liberalization happened only three years back when companies were granted the freedom to design and price products. This has resulted in competition and innovation," he says. He forecasts a 20% growth for the Rs 40,000-crore non-life industry.
But is the business feeling the slowdown heat? He replies in the affirmative and describes how he got to see it coming much before it became a reality when the engineering insurance slowed down—a sign that new projects were not taking off. Slowdown in car sales could also be a bit of a dampener, but he also feels that it's unlikely that people are going to take less health insurance. His theory being people seldom ignore education of their children and the family health.
An optimist, he feels insurance will gain popularity when customers see companies paying on time. "The moment of truthiswhen itcomestoclaims," he says. Dasgupta is a big believer in universal health insurance where he sees technology as a tool to provide cover to the poor. As part of that belief, ICICI Lombard has come up with a portable device for issuing biometric smartcards. The device enables the company to issue group policyholders cards which not only provides a photo identity but also stores information about the policyholders. Naturally,when thebusiness revolves around service, an executive's success is also bound to be measured in terms of the difference they make to the life of a consumer. So one of Dasgupta's earliest successes came when he was heading international business in ICICI Bank where the bank managed to improve efficiency by offshoring most of its operations to India. Thisenabledthebankto provide a better return to depositors. He believes speed and accuracy of claim payment along with employeeengagementwouldbethe determinant of growth of an insurance company.
Achievements | Made ICICI Lombard a key player in govt's universal health insurance programme
The general
insurance
business
m ay b e
rocky but
it's alsoon a roll.Even after 10 years, few companies are making money
in itbutthathasn'tstopped
the industry from growing
at a very health 30%.Not bad
since most sectors are currently facing a slowdown. Despite that growth, the general or non-life business is only a tenth of the life insurance industry. Also,unlikelife,it never got good valuations because it was felt that you could only lose money in a business where the biggestdrivers—health and motor—were still unprofitable.
So when we met up with the ICICI Lombard head honcho Bhargav Dasgupta, referred to as BDG, the comparisons were bound to capture a good part of the initial conversation. In keeping with ICICI group's philosophy, the current size of the industry is never seen as a constraint, and so naturally Dasgupta is quite gung-ho about his business.Theoptimism perhaps is also driven in equal measure by its position as the market leader – it's the largest non-life and health insurer. With health insurance portability around the corner, it is well placed to draw customers from PSU insurers,butDasgupta is non-committal abouthisstrategy.Hedoes talk about another strategy though. He is not that focused on increasing topline or increasing profits as he is on growing the industry itself. Besides, he also feels that by bargaining down prices with healthcare providers, thehealth insurance business can become profitable.
Dasgupta, a sports enthusiast (plays tennis to keep fit), opens up quickly enough, much like the open-space architecture of his newly purchased office in CentralMumbai'sPrabhadevi—now the company's headquarters.Butitcouldbe a bittooopen for some people as we notice executives facing job interviews and prying eyes within that architectural theme.
The 45-year-old banker, who has been with the ICICI group from the start, suggests that the non-life industry is still in its early stages. "Although the industry was opened up 10 years ago, liberalization happened only three years back when companies were granted the freedom to design and price products. This has resulted in competition and innovation," he says. He forecasts a 20% growth for the Rs 40,000-crore non-life industry.
But is the business feeling the slowdown heat? He replies in the affirmative and describes how he got to see it coming much before it became a reality when the engineering insurance slowed down—a sign that new projects were not taking off. Slowdown in car sales could also be a bit of a dampener, but he also feels that it's unlikely that people are going to take less health insurance. His theory being people seldom ignore education of their children and the family health.
An optimist, he feels insurance will gain popularity when customers see companies paying on time. "The moment of truthiswhen itcomestoclaims," he says. Dasgupta is a big believer in universal health insurance where he sees technology as a tool to provide cover to the poor. As part of that belief, ICICI Lombard has come up with a portable device for issuing biometric smartcards. The device enables the company to issue group policyholders cards which not only provides a photo identity but also stores information about the policyholders. Naturally,when thebusiness revolves around service, an executive's success is also bound to be measured in terms of the difference they make to the life of a consumer. So one of Dasgupta's earliest successes came when he was heading international business in ICICI Bank where the bank managed to improve efficiency by offshoring most of its operations to India. Thisenabledthebankto provide a better return to depositors. He believes speed and accuracy of claim payment along with employeeengagementwouldbethe determinant of growth of an insurance company.
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