A festival is celebrated to mark an occasion like Narakasura’s destruction at the hands of Lord Krishna. Or, to mark the change of a season, like Makar Sankranti or New Year. Change is celebrated. Even destruction is celebrated since it gives way to creation in its place!
Insurance agents in India are familiar with change. They have been watching the old systems disintegrating and being replaced with new systems.

September 1, 2010 was the deadline for Life insurance companies to ensure that their Unit-Linked insurance policies (ULIPs) are compliant with the new norms announced by the regulator, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA).
The new policy structure includes limitation on margin, a five year lock in period, Life cover of at least seven to 10 times the value of the First Year Premium on the policy, a 4.5 per cent guaranteed return in the case of a Pension policy, lower discontinuance charges, among others. Over 60 new ULIPs have been cleared by IRDA and slowly companies are launching them.

Spending a long weekend at breathtaking Kovalam beach in Tiruvananthapuram in the beautiful Hotel Leela, about 500 insurance agents were thinking of…… how to master the changes in their profession and stay successful!
That’s what happened at Life Underwriters Guild of India’s (LUGI) 8th Annual Convention at Tiruvananthapuram in the last week of September.

Insurance is complex and the customer depends on the intermediary for knowledgeable advice for protection against perils.
In this new column, Perils & Protection, Mr B Mathews Prabakaran, a licenced insurance broker and a seasoned General insurance professional discusses issues in the insurance industry, especially those touching the professional lives of marketing and sales professionals as well as intermediaries like brokers and agents.

For a long time insurance customers have been asking for policies withboth Life and Non-Life cover.
In August, Star Health and Allied Insurance Company and Shriram Life Insurance Company came together to launch what are called combiproducts.

In April 2007, Indian General insurance business was taken off the tariff, the price list for many types of General insurance which had been statutory for decades. Some tariffs were very high – for Fire insurance – for example. Others were too low – like Motor insurance, especially Motor Third Party Liability. This led to [...]

Mr S B Mathur, Secretary General of Life Insurance Council, a statutory body and an association of all the Life insurance companies in India, speaks of the reservations in the industry that the ULIP jurisdiction issue is only shadow boxing for achieving the ‘no entry load’ demand. Talking to K Nitya Kalyani of Premium, Mr Mathur, retired Chairman of LIC, explains how there are many misconceptions about Life insurance selling and its basis in the industry today on which the arguments about abolition of commission or the jurisdiction of ULIPs are being based.

First  Insurance  World  Broking  Services Pvt Ltd, an insurance broker registered with Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) has launched an insurance buying portal www.insuranzone.com which enables the public to compare and buy policies of any General insurance company online. Brand named Green Insurance and Any Time Motor (ATM) Insurance, Mr. Mathews Prabhakaran , Director [...]

K S Sashikumar Sashikumar, , Development Officer, Life Insurance Corporation of India, Royapettah Branch, Chennai says: When two powerful regulators fight, it’s the insurance field force that gets caught in the crossfire. The SEBI vs IRDA fight is creating apprehension and uneasiness among the insurance field force.

The essence of an insurance policy is the timely and correct payment of a claim when it arises. All the reluctance of a prospect to buy, or a policyholder to pay and renew, find an answer at the time of a claim when, in that moment of distress, there is one voice that brings restitution [...]