curriculum to inculcate the importance of insurance in the children’s consciousness at an early stage. He emphasized that distribution could play a huge part by enlarging the role of intermediaries, appointment of micro-insurance agents and also introduce pre-underwritten products which will entail less training for agents.

Giving a larger perspective from the regulators side Nilesh Sathe, Member (Life), IRDAI started his ad-dress on a lighter note remarking that “Statistics are like bikinis – what they reveal is suggestive but what they hide is vital” He summarized that insurers have to improve the effectiveness of the last mile reach to the consumers, they have to establish low cost offices in small towns and villages, IRDAI on their part is consid-ering to allow business correspondents to be made as micro agents. He also informed the participants that IRDAI has decided that corporate agents (including banks) can tie up with up to three life, non-life and health insurers each for distribution of insurance prod-ucts. Corporate agents would be given an option to tie up with nine insurers. Thus, banks can decide to con-tinue with the existing bancassurance arrangement, or tie up with more insurers.

He said the sector has to leverage technology and look at common ‘Know Your Customer; (KYC) for all financial products vis-a-vis banks, mutual funds and insurance companies. Speaking on the role of technol-ogy S.V Ramanan, CEO, CAMS Insurance Repository Services Limited added that “CAMS Rep through its IR initiative will play a significant role in shaping the future of how insurance is bought and stored in the country. Digitization will impact the way Policy holders interact with insurers as more and more digital natives enter the category. The IR initiative of IRDAI is aligned to the Digital India initiative by Government of India”.

Growth DriversThe conference threw some interesting insights into the sector and was unanimously of the opinion that the demand for insurance products is likely to increase due to the exponential growth in household savings

and purchasing power.Contributing to the topic, Vibha Padalkar, Executive

Director and Chief Financial Officer, HDFC Life said “Penetrating in the rural markets is a large untapped opportunity provided we get the distribution model right and offer products that are relevant to the rural section”.

Some of the growth drivers arrived at the panel discussion are growing of the financial industry as a

whole, increasing penetration through new modes of distribution such as the internet, direct and telemar-keting and NGOs; Product innovation i.e. increased levels of customization through product innovation; Claims management i.e. timely and efficient manage-ment of claims to prevent delays which can increase the claims cost; Profitable growth i.e. expanding product range, developing innovative products and ex-panding distribution channels; Regulatory trends i.e. mandated regulatory changes by the IRDA to promote a competitive environment in both the life and non-life insurance sectors.

Srinu Kalyan CEO PolicyBachat.com said, “There is a paradigm shift in insurance industry from traditional agency model to online model. PolicyBachat has mar-ried the two by having a fully digital online quote to bind and back end insurance advisors to help the con-sumers; hence achieving efficiency, speed in delivery and transparency in the market place.”

MINT MEDIA MARKETING INITIATIVE

Welcoming delegates to a National Insurance Con-clave Kaushal Sampat, President and Managing Director – India, Dun & Bradstreet said “There are several encouraging factors pointing to growth for the Indian insurance sector at present.”

Pointing out that insurance penetration in India (life and non-life) is just 3.9% compared to a global average of 6.3%, he further elaborated, “The hike in FDI limit in the insurance sector will provide the flex-ibility to raise much needed capital. This has opened a plethora of business opportunities for foreign inves-tors. With financial inclusion proceedings in full force, the timing of increase in limit for FDI in insurance sec-tor could be a game changer. The Insurance Act 2015 is a Win-Win situation for each of the stakeholders of the insurance industry.”

Insurance is sold and not bought in India While the impetus was provided by The Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2015 the eminent panelist also did some soul searching, the conversations did start the great opportunity provided and how to reener-gize this sector after a period of slowdown. The insur-ance sector seemed to be in a state of flux and facing several hurdles like slowing growth, rising costs, tax burden crumbling distribution structure and stalled reforms. Despite strong improvement in penetration and density in the last decade, India largely remains an under–penetrated market. The fact is that market is primarily dependent on push i.e. tax incentives and mandatory buying for sales. It seems there is very little customer pull.

Taking the discussion forward K Sanath Kumar, Di-rector & General Manager (Acting CMD), General In-surance Corporation of India said “More than 70% of the general insurance portfolio in India is comprised of health and motor insurance. The general insurance market is also plagued by high discounts; which is not a healthy sign. The market is also characterized by low property insurance, a segment which has high po-tential for growth and yet to be explored. He added, ‘a striking feature of our economy is that Service Sector comprises 60% of the GDP and hence creates less opportunities for general insurance due to lesser avail-

It has never been so good for the Insurance Sector in India, the passing of The Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2015 has energized

the insurance sector. Not only it has provided for infusion of more funds with the hiking of the for-eign investment cap in the insurance sector to 49% but also paved for removing archaic and redundant provisions in the earlier legislations. The credit goes to the joint effort of all stakeholders, including the government, regulator and insurance companies to enable the positive momentum of this industry. Taking on from these development Dun & Brad-street held a National Insurance Conclave on 13th of August 2015 to initiate discussion and debate on the various issues facing the sector and find solu-tions for the way ahead by industry leaders with an underlying theme ‘Quest for Market Penetration & Growth’. N Chandra Shekar Reports…

ability of insurable assets’ He said growth can come from tier II and tier III cities, insurance companies should capitalize on the rural affluence and retail con-sumer drive in rural areas through establishment of micro insurance offices. However key areas for insur-ance companies to work on are under insurance and the lack of Insurance awareness among the general population.

Increasing AwarenessOne of the repeated concerns raised at the conclave was the need for increasing awareness to increase in-surance penetration. Which meant better communica-tion, training, simpler products and distribution strate-gies. A plethora of policies is creating confusion in the minds of the customers. The customer pull will come from growing financial awareness and increasing sav-ings and disposable income. In the long run the insur-ance industry is still poised for a strong growth as the domestic economy is expected to grow steadily. This will lead to rise in per capita and disposable income, while savings are expected to be stable.

Underlying the key factors in the quest for growth V.K. Sharma, Managing Director, LIC remarked that “The quest for deeper insurance penetration entails being a part of the Indian growth story while staying ahead of it. It is a quest to push growth-rate of life insurance premium at a level much higher than that of the Indian GDP in real terms to make sure India catches up with the World average. Not winning is not an option.”Key issues and challengesThe conference delved into the key challenges both for the life insurance sector as well as the non life insur-ance sector. Some of the key challenges faced by the life insurance sector are product design, cost, taxation and distribution – traditional as well as alternate chan-nels. In the non-life sector the key challenges being faced are product pricing, new product development in terms of innovativeness and simplicity, distribution, micro insurance in non life widening reach, improved fraud control mechanisms, standardization to reduce claims loss, reducing inefficiencies by revisiting third party administrator agreements, health insurance and governance and regulatory changes.

G SRINIVASAN, Chairman cum Managing Director, The New India Assurance Co. Ltd. said that “India is poised for a huge growth in insurance penetration with increasing awareness, new products and better distri-bution strategies”. He also added segments like health insurance (only 23% penetration), householders insur-ance (only 3% penetration), personal accident insur-ance (8 crore policies) provide large scope for growth. He drew attention to the fact that multiplicity of poli-cies is adding to the confusion of the less informed Indian consumer. He said the need of the hour is sim-plification and standardization of insurance products the insurance process. He also pointed out that the insurance industry has also failed to leverage digital. He suggested that the industry has to look at inno-vative methods to reach the consumers and look at unconventional methods like communicating through community leaders, village elders-who are respected and trusted people in their communities. One can also look at introduction of insurance as a part of school

(L to R) Mr. Kaushal Sampat, President & Managing Director, Dun & Brads;

SPEAKER BYTES

Indian Insurance Industry Poised for Greater Penetration

“Nequaspero que simus ex et qui sit velita conseressi testem eniasitaturOnes dia quia et as eature voluptatem intur aniscit volles non conseque ne quiae voluptaque idiorep ratinctur, quatur, ut iducidit mod quatem ut ulparoups at an affordableseque ne quiae vo-luptaque idiorep ratinctur, quatur, ut iducidit mod quatem ut ulparoups at an affordab”

MS. ViBhA PADALKAR Executive Director & CFO,

HDFC Standard Life Insurance Company Ltd.

“Nequaspero que simus ex et qui sit velita conseressi testem eniasitaturOnes dia quia et as eature voluptatem intur aniscit volles non conseque ne quiae voluptaque idiorep ratinctur, quatur, ut iducidit mod quatem ut ulparoups at an affordableseque ne quiae vo-luptaque idiorep ratinctur, quatur, ut iducidit mod quatem ut ulparoups at an affordab”

MR Kamlesh Vora Executive Vice President – Distribution Excellence

Kotak Mahindra Old Mutual Life Insurance Ltd

“Nequaspero que simus ex et qui sit velita conseressi testem eniasitaturOnes dia quia et as eature voluptatem intur aniscit volles non conseque ne quiae voluptaque idiorep ratinctur, quatur, ut iducidit mod quatem ut ulparoups at an affordableseque ne quiae vo-luptaque idiorep ratinctur, quatur, ut iducidit mod quatem ut ulparoups at an affordab”

MR S.V. RAMAnAnChief Executive Officer,

CAMS Insurance Repository Services Ltd.

uptatem intur aniscit vol“Nequaspero que simus ex et qui sit velita conseressi testem

eniasitaturOnes dia quia et as eature vo-luptatem intur aniscit volles non conseque ne quiae voluptaque idiorep “Nequaspero

que simus ex et qui sit velita conseressi testem eniasitaturOnes dia quia et as eature voluptatem intniscit volles non conseque ne

quiae volaque idiorep

MR M.RAVichAnDRAn President – Insurance,

Tata AIG General Insurance Company Ltd.

“Nequaspero que simus ex et qui sit velita conseressi testem eniasitaturOnes dia quia et as eature voluptatem intur aniscit volles non conseque ne quiae voluptaque idiorep “Nequaspero que simus ex et qui sit velita conseressi testem eniasitaturOnes dia quia et as eature voluptatem intur aniscit volles non conseque ne quiae voluptaque idiorep

MR nAYAn ShAhFounder & Managing Director,

Paramount Health Group

“Nequaspero que simus ex et qui sit velita conseressi testem eniasitaturOnes dia quia et as eature voluptatem intur aniscit volles non conseque ne quiae voluptaque idiorep “Nequaspero que simus ex et qui sit velita conseressi testem eniasitaturOnes dia quia et as eature voluptatem intur aniscit volles non conseque ne quiae voluptaque idiorep

MR SRinu KALYAn Chief Executive Officer,

Policybachat.com

“The prime objective of the national Mission on Financial inclusion now more popularly known as Prime Minister Jan Dhan Yojana is to ca-ter all households with at least one Bank Account and their access to Bank credit and other financial prod-ucts to become self-sustainable. Financial literacy will play the most important role to achieve this.”

— MR Srinivasan Executive Director, Bank of Maharashtra

“The prime objective of the national Mission on Financial inclusion now more popularly known as Prime Minister Jan Dhan Yojana is to ca-ter all households with at least one Bank Account and their access to Bank credit and other financial prod-ucts to become self-sustainable. Financial literacy will play the most important role to achieve this.”

— MR KAuShAL SAMPAT Executive Director, Bank of Maharashtra

“The prime objective of the national Mission on Financial inclusion now more popularly known as Prime Minister Jan Dhan Yojana is to ca-ter all households with at least one Bank Account and their access to Bank credit and other financial prod-ucts to become self-sustainable. Financial literacy will play the most important role to achieve this.”

— MR niLESh SEThi Executive Director, Bank of Maharashtra

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