With aggressive marketing in some target segments, especially for the rural masses, private insurer IndiaFirst life Insurance is eyeing a slot in the top ten positions in the life segment in India soon. Now, the insurer has already consolidated its position on the twelfth spot among all 23 life insurance firms in India, including public sector life Insurance Corporation (lIC).
“We always take proactive measures to expand our business and growth. As far as top ten positions are concerned, we are aggressively marketing in some target segments, especially for the rural masses and we will improve our position very soon. As we don’t believe in forward looking statements, we can’t speculate at this moment,” IndiaFirst life MD and CEO RM Vishakha told The Pioneer in an interview on Monday.
IndiaFirst life, which covers over 1.1 crore lives in the country, is a joint-venture between Bank of Baroda, (44 per cent), Andhra Pradesh (30 per cent) and UK’s life insurance and pension fund legal & General (26 per cent).
The insurer is also planning to expand its reach to rural masses through sale of policies from the vast network of common service centres or CSCs across the country. As of now, India has a network of 2.70 lakh CSCs. “Targeted at rural masses, who do not often have a regular source of income, ‘Insurance Khata’ launched by IndiaFirst life is unique policy which will not lapse even if the policyholder fails to pay premium after the first instance,” Vishakha said.
The programme ‘IndiaFirst life CSC Insurance Khata’ was launched by Minister of State for Electronics and IT KJ Alphons here on Monday. Keeping in mind seasonal income probability, Vishakha, however, explained, “A policyholder can pay premium in parts, as and when possible without losing the benefits of the product. This product is designed for long-term savings along with life insurance benefit. The simple and easy to understand model makes this product mis-selling resilient.”