Mumbai, Jan 29 : The 120-crore Birla Sun Life Insurance Ltd, a joint venture between the Aditya Birla group and Sun Life Financial Services (SNFS), will target high-income households in metropolitan cities. ``We will look at the upper end of metropolitan market initially with incomes between Rs 50,000 and Rs 5 lakh,'' the group director of the financial services of the Birla Group, Mr SK Mitra, said at the formal launch of the venture here on Monday.The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) is expected award the licence to the joint venture during the week.Asked about the group's plans for the other segments of the insurance buisness, group chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla said: ``We have no plans to enter the non-life segment.''
According to him, it is purely an investment decision to opt for life and pension businesses and not non-life insurance. The group has a huge investor base of three lakh which provides the necessary advantages for undertaking the life insurance business, he said.
The group is planning to venture into insurance broking after the relevant IRDA guidelines are announced. The group's distribution service subsidiary will act as a corporate agent for the life insurance venture.
The new venture would open two branches in Mumbai and one in Delhi in the first phase, Mr Mitra said, adding it would appoint 150 insurance advisors or agents by mid-February. Mr Don Stewart, chairman and chief executive officer of Sun Life, will also be the chairman of the new joint venture.On the plans for the rural segment, Mr Vijay Singh, vice-president of SNFS, said ``there is a sizable population with disposable income in the rural areas and the JV will use the Birla group's network to enter this segment.''The first policy is expected to be issued in late February or March, Mr Singh said, adding that ``we expect to have 1,500 agents by the end of the first year and break even in the sixth year of operation''.
Copyright © 2001 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
