When it comes to getting insured, only one name appears in mind — life Insurance Corporation of India (lIC) — which has been a trustworthy, blemishless name over the last 57 years. Despite tough competition its credibility has not suffered, says AP SINGH Zonal Manager of lIC. In an exclusive interview he told PRIYANKA DUA that lIC is the market leader and is the people's first choice for insurance. ‘Trust has not been dented and we continue to be market leaders by leveraging our brand equity,’ he adds
What kind of targets have you set for the current financial year for your zoneIJ What about your overall targetsIJ
For Northern zone we have set a target of 57 lakh 25 thousand policies and in terms of premium, the target is 5075 crores. lIC as a corporation has set an overall target of four crores five lakh policies for the year 2013-14 and 33 thousand crore for first premium.
What challenges are you facing in your zone and how are you coping with itIJ
There is no zone specific challenge. We are in very competitive market and that is applicable for the entire country. The market in metros is very sensitive and highly competitive, so I have to ensure that we remain ahead of competition and we graduate from leader to market maker.
What are your achievements as a zonal headIJ
I am focussing on neglected areas and trying to bring my team’s attention on those areas for improvement. I must say that the team, with which I have been working, has delivered. Northern zone is at No 1 position in terms of premium in the country and also at No 2 in policy growth as of March 31, 2013. Apart from that we are at No 2 in the country for recruitment of Rural Career Agents and have shown 51 per cent growth in the appointment of Senior Business Associates(SBA). North zone has also performed exceptionally well in alternate channels. For the first time, we have achieved Health Insurance budget and we were first in the country to achieve Micro Insurance (insurance meant for economically weaker section) annual budget. In Chief life Insurance Advisor channel (ClIA), we have achieved No 1 position on seven counts out of eight in the country. These are the areas, where Northern zone is distinctive and I am very happy with the performance.
What makes your products different from other insurance companiesIJ
Any one can give you the product. There is no big deal but how you reach out to the people, is more important because ultimately for the customer, who buys the product credibility, is one of the deciding factors along with the features of the product and when it comes to lIC the differentiator is ‘trust.’
The ‘trust’ we have built in more than five decades is legendary and despite tough competition our credibility has not suffered.We are the market leader and the first choice of people for insurance. Trust has not been dented and we continue to be the market leaders by leveraging our brand equity, as desired by our Finance Minister Shri Chidambaram.
Tell us about how you are trying to widen your reach to the rural areasIJ
We are the pioneers when it comes to rural India. We are not facing any competition there. There might be hard competition in urban centres. Our performance is over whelming in rural India. lIC has become a generic term. In rural areas insurance is still sold as lIC.
There are reports that the drop out rate of insurance agents are alarmingly high, so could you tell us what are the reasons and is lIC facing the same problems like private firmsIJ
Yes, attrition rate among lIC force has been slightly high because of certain regulatory changes over the last two years. The issue is, of course, common to all insurance companies and we have taken it up with the regulator. One of the major reasons of attrition is high pass benchmark for pre-recruitment test. It was 50 per cent earlier but now it has been lowered to 35 per cent. I hope it will definitely encourage youngsters to join insurance agency as a profession. This development will boost the sector.
You have launched certain products like Flexi Plus and Jeevan Nidhi, are you going to launch any new products in the coming monthsIJ
launching of products is a regular feature. We always try to assess the market requirement and carry out the survey with consumers and with market intermediaries. Depending upon the requirements the products is decided and launched periodically.
Anything you would like to addIJ
People should come in large numbers to buy insurance and they should keep on patronising the lIC, the way they have been patronising in the past. We assure them that we’ll give them our best service to retain their ‘trust’.
photo Ranjan Dimri