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New Changes in the New Year

The calendar year 2008 ended quite gloomily affecting the new year mood in the beginning of 2009. The Indian stock market had started dropping in the beginning of the year and, when the global financial crisis became larger and larger in size, it crashed seriously in October, 2008.

Premium’s editorial insisted on putting up a brave front to the downturn by philosophising that booming markets have to come to an end and we should be prepared for a downturn. Prepared not only to survive in it, but thrive in it and use it to build up the future.

For the insurance industry both the boom and the crash affected the sales of unit linked insurance policies (ULIPs) mainly. As if to help the Life industry to sell more by reducing premium rates, IRDA reduced the solvency margins required for ULIPS, Health, Annuity and Pensions. Earlier it had reduced solvency requirements for Term Policies.

It said: “With special reference to the financial advisory profession, the market crash demonstrated to us that we should not sell as if the good times are going to last forever. For the bad times will come and, when they do, we still have to go back to our customers with a clear conscience. They should have respect for us and our advice and give us business even then.”

Our main interview for the January 2009 issue, aptly, was of the head of LIC Mutual Fund who urged that investors have to be educated for the markets if the mutual funds industry was to grow in the face of turbulence!

In December 2008, the Government had also tabled the Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2008 in Parliament. This Bill proposed wide ranging changes to the existing insurance laws and two main ones involving agents were that the powers to specify commission rates for insurance intermediaries should be shifted from the Insurance Act, 1938 to Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) and that the power to license agents should be shifted from IRDA to the individual companies with IRDA specifying their eligibility, qualifications and the like.

Other proposals too are there in the Bill including lower entry capital for Health insurance companies and an appellate authority for IRDA.

FEBRUARY 2009

ULIPs Change the Game

Selling in a Downturn was a theme in the Editorial of February 2009, timely in reminding insurance marketers that the last quarter of the year is usually when the highest volume business is written and that it was not a time to sit back in discouragement.

The reason this was needed was the sentiment among agents. They reacted to the downturn, especially the market crash, and shied away from pushing ahead with sales.  On the contrary, this was the time to emphasise to customers and prospects that insurance is the primary investment for a downturn!

Meanwhile the regulatory sector was focussing on the investments of insurance companies and Premium carried an exclusive interview with IRDA’s Member (Actuary), Dr R Kannan, who said that the Assets side of the balance sheet of insurance companies needed attention. The capital market crash had led to concerns about policyholders’ funds getting eroded. The concern turned into alarm when the Satyam Computers scam came to light in December 2008. The reason was that Satyam shares were a favourite of the institutional investors and insurance companies had invested in the shares of that company. This was the kind of development that could impair the policyholders’ funds and put them at risk.

IRDA’s focus on Health insurance was also a highlighted topic in that interview along with portability of Health insurance policies and the need for creating policies to suit the changing needs of the customers.

Health insurance and its future importance was also reflected in the other interview in that issue, that of Mr S S Gopalarathnam, Managing Director of Cholamandalam MS General Insurance Company who shared his company’s future plans that 80 per cent of its business would be from personal lines.

“In Health insurance,” he said, “we have only scratched the surface. We have a population of 110 crore people and we have sold barely two crore policies.”

MARCH 2009

Success in a Downturn

As the financial year ended there were worries about the financial performance of the insurance industry.

If Selling in a Downturn was the encouragement given in the editorial in February 2009, in March it was featured as an extensive and interesting story on Sales Skills. Leading agents shared with our readers their secrets of being Upbeat in a Down Market and winning the selling game!

The two special interviews in this issue  reflected the sombre mood and also a cautious optimism.

Mr S B Mathur,  Secretary General, Life Insurance Council,  said that not only would India bounce back faster than the world economy but within India the Life insurance industry would bounce back faster than the rest of the economy!

Mr S L Mohan, Secretary General, General Insurance Council in his interview was more inward looking. This was justified too since the General insurance industry had to deal with more internal challenges than external ones because detariffing had put pressure on the premium rates which had fallen so much that the industry was becoming unprofitable. But, said Mr Mohan, scientific underwriting, that is more profitable premium rates, was being established and so the industry could look forward to better times.

March was also the time when new team members took over at the Life Insurance Agents Federation of India (LIAFI), a development that would turn out to be significant just six months later in September when the Swarup committee made the unpalatable recommendation of phasing out insurance agents’ commissions and replacing them with fees from the customer for the advice given.

Software for Success

Life insurance and General insurance industries take pretty divergent paths when it comes to almost anything. The editorial in the May 2009 issue observed that the two industries were like the tortoise and the hare.

The year ending business performance figures seemed to show that the Life insurance industry that had very high rates of growth and also plunged down to negative rates of growth in the last few years was very different from the General insurance industry that struggled with poor growth but has managed to climb up to somewhat decent levels of growth after detariffing.

The insurance industry is not just made up of insurance companies! There are a growing group of service providers  capitalising on the various needs of the industry.

Software for example. For the traditional insurance agent in India, technology is not an easy thing to learn or adopt. Mr Ajay Arora, Founder and Managing Director, Datacomp Web Technologies Private Limited, is a leading provider of software for the insurance agent. Twenty five years ago when he entered this field most people in India did not know anything about computers. In an interview in this issue he said that Technology will become a Necessity!

A profession that is struggling to reinvent its own professional standards is that of insurance surveyors. IRDA established the Indian Institute of Insurance Surveyors and Loss Assessors just for this reason and its President,

Mr Mahendra K Dhruva in his interview in this issue talked about how critical it was that the loss survey should be neutral and how it should be handled only by independent surveyors.

Further stories based on IRDA Annual Report 2007-08 data highlighted the premium growth over about seven years which showed very interesting trends.

JUNE 2009

Self Confidence is the WinnerMay of 2009 saw a new Government at the Centre and with it, the markets reacting with hope. Even those of us who have nothing to do with the markets feel a joyful lift when the markets are up!

The end of the financial year has an added significance for the General insurance industry since reinsurance contracts are concluded in the last part of the financial year and the rates reflect the profitability of the direct insurers. General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC) as the National Reinsurer in India sent out signals that low premium rates given by direct insurers will not be acceptable any more and that it would reward only profitable business, meaning that direct insurers who indulged in unhealthy rate cutting would be penalised with higher costs in reinsurance costs.

Though lower premium rates are good for the customer and the agent who sells the policy, that is only one side of the story. The customer is at the risk of  having claims rejected when the company turns unprofitable. The agent may find it easier to sell policies with low premium but General insurance agents have been finding to their horror that their commission income  became a fraction of what it used to be. Not sustainable for anybody.

Meanwhile back to our focus of selling and its challenges,

Mr R Kannan, Managing Director of Shriram City Union Finance, which sells the policies of Shriram Life Insurance Company – its group company, spoke of Life insurance selling and identified a certain mind-set among the older financial services sales force as the main barrier to selling.

Meanwhile more stories from the IRDA Annual Report, 2007-08 highlighted a main worry of the insurance industry – lapsation of policies. Losing existing customers is bad for any industry and the worst for insurance which makes much of its investment based on the continuance of its policies. Though insurance density and penetration have increased in India, lapsation rates have gone up and that is a negative trend.

JULY 2009

Celebrating Three Years!

Premium completed three years of publication with the July 2009 issue and, in celebration, dedicated the Sales Skills story of the issue to celebrating the Top Three Resources to stay on Top in the agency profession in India.

It presented, through the opinion of various agents the various aspects of the profession.

From three qualities every agent should possess to Three changes needed in the profession and in the industry, the story took a look at the profession as a whole and also covered Three motivating factors, Three skills an agent should develop, Three gadgets that enrich an agent’s work, Three changes the industry needs, Three missions in a professional practice, Three benefits of  professional education and Three approaches to personal finance.

It was also time to take note of the statistical trends emerging during the first quarter of the financial year 2009-10. On the Life insurance side a positive trend seemed to be emerging despite the initial erratic progress and, on the General insurance side, there was a realignment of market share trends between the older public sector companies and the newer private sector companies.

Mr G Srinivasan, Chairman-cum-Managing Director, United India Insurance Company, makes clear in his interview that the helpless loss of marketshare of the General insurance companies during the first eight years of liberalisation was now being reversed. The detariffing and downturn actually helped public sector General insurance companies!

AUGUST 2009

It’s Statistics Poster Time!

Statistics show us where we are and where we have to go!

In August 2009 a special eight-page section containing the second edition of Premium’s Special Annual Statistics Poster compiled premium figures of five years for the Life and General insurance industries and the trends they present. The poster, covering 2004-05 to 2008-09 was a big hit with readers!

Among the trends revealed were the reversal in the growth of unit linked insurance policies (ULIPs,) erratic growth in Traditional policies, the continued crash of Fire insurance premium and continued admirable growth in Health and Personal Accident premiums.

Mr Gaurav Garg, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Tata AIG General Insurance Company, shares his views on the industry including detariffing and its effect on premium rates and distribution channels of General insurance among other issues.

Mr Garg was optimistic about rural insurance, and the scope it offered Life, General and Micro insurance. The future is when direct distribution will also take off, he added.

An interesting develpment has been that organisations holding events are choosing to come repeatedly to Premium to advertise for participants. Insurance and agents specific products and services too are beginning to get advertised. Just goes to show that even ads are useful information for our readers.

SEPTEMBER 2009

Swarup’s Shocking RecommendationThe first week of September was a stormy time for the 30 lakh insurance agents in the country. The ‘Committee on Investor Awareness and Protection’ in its Consultation Paper released for comment by the public suggested phasing out of insurance commissions by 2011.

The Committee had also suggested that insurance companies should ‘‘help their agents make the transition to a more mature way of selling and advising’’ their clients.

While the objectives of the Committee to curb misselling of policies is worthy, the sudden nature of the recommendation, its prescription of a very short deadline and the approach of the Committee in splashing the recomendation all over the media leading to a pre-judgement of the issue were all called into question by the insurance industry.

It was premature to believe that the customer in India would pay the agent a fee because financial literacy levels are very low here and can spread only slowly was the opinion of the industry participants.

The individual agent is a critical part of the chain and doing away with commissions and cutting down the livelihood of lakhs of agents will

affect insurance penetration especially in the rural areas, thought leaders explained.

Speaking to Premium, Mr G V Nageswara Rao, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, IDBI Fortis Life Insurance Company said that the move for a uniform commission across all financial products is entirely impractical and adds that market forces should determine the commission rates.

In his interview, Mr  Deepak Sood, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Future Generali India Insurance Company, says a stable situation where there are no price wars will never emerge in General insurance in India.

OCTOBER 2009

Commission vs Fees – Your Voices

After the seeing the agents’ side to the effects of the recommendations of the Swarup Committee recommendation on phasing out commission in the September issue, Premium’s editorial this month makes a clarion call to the agents to ‘Be Prepared.’

If and when the proposal becomes a reality, the agents were told they have to take it up as a challenge as they did the challenge of competition in the form of liberalisation and even today as they constantly face the challenges of doing business.

What if there are changes in the long run? The agent community would take care of its interests best by learning to live with the changes and thriving.

Speaking to Premium extensively on the Swarup committee report and its recommendations, Mr S B Mathur, Secretary General, Life Insurance Council, pointed out that it was a report grossly unfair to the insurance industry that has done much to spread protection in the rural areas.

“In a country where literacy is low, what to talk of financial literacy?” he asks bluntly, underlining the importance of the role of the insurance agent.

His objection was to the way the Consultation paper had used select data to project a tarnished picture of the Life insurance industry. In addition, he said payment of 40 per cent of commissions to agents was true only in some long-term policies which are low premium policies. He questioned the urgency to push the proposals through with such undue haste and the committee not even making a mention of the good work the agents and the industry had been doing.

Yet, the matter was clearly at an early stage. In an article pondering whether the change was justified, the author points out to the status of the committee – which is actually a sub-committee, the final power to decide on the recommendations lying with the Parliament, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) having come out openly resistant to the change and concluding that it is far too early in India to switch over to a fee-for-advice model forsaking the commissions model in practice now.

NOVEMBER 2009

Ten Years of Insurance Reforms

In 1999, the number insurance companies could be counted on the fingers of one hand. Today, there nearly 50 companies in both the public and private sectors at the service of the customer.

To capture the essence of the decade of transformation, Premium, November, 2009, spoke to  intermediaries like agents, brokers and development officers.

The wait for the liberalisation of the insurance industry began with the release of the Malhotra Committee report in 1994. Once Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) Act, 1999, was passed, the regulator started formalising the regulations to govern the insurance industry and its various components.

The passing of Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) Act, 1999 marked the beginning for the transformation.

The invasion of the consumer’s mind by insurance jargon is complete too. There is talk of ‘skinasurance’ by a well known fairness cream product.

Meanwhile, the protests against the Swarup committee recommendation phasing out commission for agents reached a stage where the Life Insurance Agents Federation of India (LIAFI) met with the power centres in the Union Government including Mr Pranab Mukherjee, Union Finance Minister.

One of the papers reported Mr D Swarup’s reaction to all the protests: You pay a doctor a separate consultation charge and a separate price for the medicine. Why should a financial product be something different?

Agents had protesed, the industry expressed its case, the regulator dismissed the idea as impractical and the indications from government circles was that it would consider the issue closly before making any drastic moves.

DECEMBER 2009

Agents Say ‘Delhi Chalo’

Thousands of Life Insurance Agents Federation of India (LIAFI) members travelled to Delhi for a Maha Sammelan on December 2 to protest the ‘no commission’ recommendation of the Swarup Committee, some proposals in the Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill 2008 and the Direct Taxes Code Bill, 2009. Top leaders in the Government had been met and petitions had been submitted to them on the importance of continuing insurance commissions and the critical nature of the agent’s role in the economy.

Premium wrote that such changes can be resisted and their voices certainly should be heard and yet, at the same time a better professional awareness among the agents should lead them to carve out a position of authority and respect for themselves so that their role is understood and their remuneration – the commission –  is accepted as deserved.

The tracking of the post-liberalisation trends in insurance continued with the cover story on the ‘Decade of Transformation’ with opinions of heads of institutions in the industry like Life Insurance Council, General Insurance Council, Life Insurance Agents Federation of India (LIAFI), National Federation of Insurance Field Workers of India (NFIFWI), Insurance Institute of India (III) and the Financial Planning Standards Board of India  (FPSB).

One change in this decade has certainly been that Health insurance has revealed   its huge future potential.

As the head of a monoline – or standalone – Health insurance company, Mr Antony Jacob, Managing Director, Apollo Munich Health Insurance Company, opens up to Premium, on the critical need for Health insurance for each and every citizen.

The Year in Numbers

Every year we go through thrilling highs and depressing lows and 2009 was no different.

The Life insurance industry went erratically from -2 per cent in December 2008 to possitive 22 per cent in November 2009.

The General insurance industry was more or less steady at 10 per cent and nine per cent.

By the end of the financial year 2008-09 the Life insurance industry had deepened the negative growth to six per cent.

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January 2008

Regulation

Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) removes tariffs on all general insurance business in India with effect from January 1, 2008. This applies to all new and renewal business except Motor Third Party Liability (Motor TP) Insurance for which the rates and terms will continue to be regulated by IRDA.

General Insurance Council comes up with a new standardised definition of pre-existing diseases for the purpose of hospitalisation policies. According to this a disease will not be considered pre-existing if a hospitalisation policy has been in force for four continuous years.

Company and Industry

IDBI Fortis Life Insurance Company promoted by IDBI, Federal Bank and the Netherlands-based Fortis Insurance International is registered as a Life insurer.

Societe Generale Bank partners with Indiabulls Financial Services Ltd for a Life insurance joint venture in India.

Private Life insurance companies seek an additional four year grace period to carry forward its losses since most insurers have failed to break even after eight years of operations.

Appointments

Mr P M Venkatasubramaniam is appointed Chairman of Royal Sundaram Alliance Insurance Company. He was earlier Managing Director of General Insurance Corporation of India.

Product News

The New India Assurance Company launched three new products – ‘Smart Home,’ ‘Family Health,’ and ‘Travel Health,’ in Oman.

February 2008

Regulation

New Tariff Advisory Committee (TAC) constituted by IRDA following elections held in December 2007.

Company and Industry

Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Company in association with Euler Hermes plans to set up a separate debt collection company in India to consolidate its presence in the domestic and export credit insurance space.

Product News

• Bharti AXA Life Insurance Company launches a pension policy called ‘Dream Life pension.’
• Western India Automobile Association launches a car insurance policy in association with IFFCO-Tokio General Insurance Company.
• ING Vysya Life Insurance Company launches a new unit linked insurance policy (ULIP) called ING Guaranteed Growth Plan.

March 2008

Regulation

IRDA amends the IRDA (Obligations of Insurers to Rural or Social Sectors) Regulations, 2002 to make them in tune with IRDA’s Micro Insurance Regulations, 2005.

IRDA warns insurance companies against issuing policies without receiving the requisite proposal forms from prospects as stipulated under Section 4 of the IRDA Act.

IRDA revises the definition of infrastructure to match with that of the RBI, based on the report of the Deepak Parekh Committee, set up to examine the steps needed to enlarge the flow of institutional funds to infrastructure.

Company and Industry

Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance Company receives the security certification ISO 27001:2005 for the IT systems and infrastructure situated at its Pune head office.

Larsen & Toubro plans to enter an insurance joint venture with the US insurance company Travelers.

LIC of India plans to develop a customised service model for high-end customers to meet the growing competition from private insurance companies.

Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) decides to include performance as one of the criteria to assess public sector pension fund managers.

Appointments

Ms Monica Agarwal appointed Director for Corporate Initiatives, Aviva Life Insurance Company.

Product News

The Government plans to launch Health insurance schemes for families living below the poverty line, where the Health insurance premium will be paid by the Government.

LIC asked to split the tax benefits of the policy “Health Plus” under section 80D and 80C of the Income Tax Act, 1961.

Reliance Life Insurance Company launches a new policy called “Wealth Plus Health”, a unit-linked policy with health benefits.

Universal Sompo General Insurance Company launches two new policies- Standard  Fire and Special Parents Policy and Aapat Suraksha Bima.

April 2008

Regulation

IRDA creates a separate grievance cell for handling complaints of senior citizens relating to non-renewal of Health insurance policies by insurance companies.

IRDA reduces the solvency margins for Life insurance companies for term policies.

IRDA announces that non-profit organisations can also become micro insurance agents.

IRDA cancels the insurance broking license of Armour Consultants Pvt. Ltd., belonging to the group of Shriram Life Insurance Company with effect from March1, 2008 on the latter’s request.

Tata AIG Life Insurance Company enters a joint venture with India Post to provide its customers renewal premium payment services through India Post’s post offices.

LIC Housing Finance launches a new reverse mortgage scheme where senior citizens can avail of the loan either on a monthly payment or on a lump sum payment or both.

Appointments

Mr S S Gopalarathnam appointed the new Managing Director of Cholamandalam MS General Insurance Company. He succeeds Mr M Anandan on the latter’s retirement.

Product News

ING Vysya Life Insurance Company launches its new unit-linked retirement policy “ING Golden Life”.

LIC of India decides to cover sex workers under the micro insurance policy “Jeevan Madhur”.

Max New York Life Insurance Company launches Life Line series of policies covering hospitalisation, surgeries and critical illnesses.

ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company has entered a joint venture with United Health group of the US to provide its policyholders travelling to the US with access to United Health Care’s programmes and services.

Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Company in association with an NGO, Care India, has launched a micro Health insurance program

May 2008

Regulation

IRDA allows the promoters of insurance companies to enter the insurance broking business.

IRDA extends the deadline for designated officers of corporate agents to acquire required qualifications by one year.

Shriram General Insurance Company receives IRDA registration.

Company and Industry

United India Insurance Company enters a joint venture with LG to offer mobile theft insurance policy for LG customers.

IRDA fines 10 insurance companies for non-compliance with various guidelines.

New Ventures

Germany’s Ergo insurance group and India’s Hero group enter into a joint venture to form a Life insurance company called Hero Ergo Life Insurance Company.

Product News

Max New York Life Insurance Company launches a new unit linked insurance policy “Smart Assure.”

The Government of India launches a social security group scheme of LIC to cover Anganwadi workers.

ICICI Lombard in coordination with Deccan, the airline company, launches a new travel insurance scheme to cover possible loss during vacation or travel.

June 2008

Regulation

IRDA appointed committee on intermediaries headed by Mr N M Govardhan recommends, among other things, that the agency commission on sale of Life insurance policies for the first five years be kept flexible from year to year.

Company and Industry

IRDA grants registration to Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of Commerce Life Insurance Company.

New Ventures

SBI signs a General insurance joint venture with Insurance Australia Group.

Appointments

Mr Sunil Behari Mathur appointed Secretary General, Life Insurance Council.

Mr Mukul Gupta appointed CEO of Hero Ergo Life Insurance company and Mr Mark Schamp its Chief Financial Officer.

Mr. Ritesh Kumar appointed CEO of HDFC Ergo General Insurance Company.

Product News

United India Insurance Company launches “Family Medicare Policy” for age group 18-80 years.

Himachal Pradesh Government implements a “Handicraft Weavers’ Comprehensive Welfare Scheme” to provide insurance cover with enhanced benefits.

July 2008

Regulations

IRDA cancels the insurance broking license of Pegasus insurance brokers.

Appointments

Mr J Hari Narayan takes over as Chairman of the IRDA.

Mr M Damodaran appointed as the chief representative and advisor of ING Group.

LIC launches new linked deferred pension policy “Market Plus-1.”

Reliance Mutual Fund launches Reliance Systematic Investment Plan with Insurance.

August 2008

Bancassurance

Doha Bank announces alliance with LIC International to market its insurance retirement and investment policies in the region.

Appointments

Mr Rajesh Sud promoted as Deputy Managing Director of Max New York Life Insurance Company and Mr Rajit Mehta its Deputy Chief Operating Officer.

Product News

Apollo DKV Insurance Company announces short term travel insurance policy “Easy Travel”.

Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance Company launches its family medical insurance policy “Family Carefirst”.

September 2008

Regulation

IRDA announces ceilings on agency commissions and brokerage by General insurance companies applicable from October1, 2008.

IRDA cancels the broking license of SMS insurance services.

Appointments

Mr Sanjay Kedia appointed as CEO and Country Manager, Marsh India Insurance Brokers Pvt. Ltd.

Aegon Religare Life Insurance Company launches its operations in India with four products and two riders.

Shriram General Insurance Company launches its operations in July 2008.

Product News

Tata AIG Life Insurance Company launches three policies under “United Retirement Solutions” for the customers of United Bank of India.

October 2008

Regulations

IRDA issues a public notice that Reliant Money Insurance brokers and financial services has been doing unauthorised insurance broking business.

Appointments

Mr T R Ramachandran appointed CEO of Aviva (India) Life Insurance Company.

Mr Suresh Mahalingam appointed Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Tata AIG Life Insurance Company.

Bancassurance

Tata AIG Life Insurance Company and Tata AIG General Insurance Company have signed a bancassurance pact with Sangli Bank in Maharashtra.

Product News

ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company has launched micro insurance policy “Sarv Jana Suraksha” for customers from low income group.

Royal Sundaram Alliance Insurance Company has launched Health Shield Online and Travel Shield Online for health and travel related risks.

HDFC Standard Life Insurance Company introduces Health insurance policy “HDFC Critical Care” covering nearly 30 critical illnesses.

ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company expanding its insurance scheme “Nirmaya” to all states in India except Jammu & Kashmir.

November 2008

Appointments

Mr Rajesh Sud appointed CEO and Managing Director of Max New York Life Insurance Company and Mr. Rajit Mehta as its Chief Operating Officer.

Mr S L Mohan takes charge as Secretary General of General Insurance Council.

Company and Industry

Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance Company signs up Rushikulya Gramya Bank of Orissa as its corporate agent to sell its life insurance products.

Product News

ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company has launched “Diabetes Care Active,” a unique long term Health insurance plan for Type2 diabetics and pre-diabetics.

Tata AIG Life insurance company has launched “Investassure Health”, its first unit linked hospitalisation policy.

Kotak Mahindra Old Mutual Life Insurance Company announces reduction of up to 40 per cent in its term plan rates.

Future Generali India Life Insurance Company announces two retirement plans “Future Pension Plan” and “Future Pension Advantage Plan.”

Allahabad Bank signs a pact with Kotak Mahindra Old Mutual Life Insurance Company to provide group credit life insurance cover its educational loans borrowers.

December 2008

Company and Industry

Max New York Life Insurance Company announces a business alliance with non-banking finance company, MIMO Finance, for distributing its micro insurance product “Max Vijay.”

Appointments

Mr Mark Meehan takes over as COO of Bharati AXA Life Insurance Company.

Product News

IFFCO-Tokio General Insurance Company launches Janata Bima Yojana in Kerala offering low premium insurance to the rural poor.

Aegon Religare Life Insurance Company launches Aegon Religare Guaranteed Return Plan, a tax free single premium policy.

MetLife (India) Insurance Company launches two new products, Met Growth and Met Income Guaranteed.

SBI Life Insurance Company introduces SBI Life-group criti9, a Health plan for account holders of SBI.

Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance Company introduces Bajaj Allianz Capital Shield that guarantees investment and tax benefits.

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