Aditya Birla Group is targeting to infuse Rs 1,000 crore capital in the insurance operations of Aditya Birla Financial Services (ABFS) during the current financial year. ABFS has restructured its human resources by bringing new professionals having exposure in global markets.
Providing details on the ABFS?s new initiatives to emerge as the top three financial services providers, Ajay Srinivasan, chief executive, ABFS and director, corporate strategy and business development said, ?Different plans have different needs. This year we are looking for injecting Rs 1,000 crore in the insurance business.? This Rs 1,000 crore is the share of the ABFS?s towards 74% of its share in Birla group and the rest will be shared by its foreign partner Sun Life. The money will be spent on the expansion the development of human resources, distribution network and technology of the insurance operations.
ABFS has taken several measures to change the face of this human resources. Ajay Srinivasan feels that a professional team should be in place to be among the top three, mandated by the management, in the financial services space. The group considers that the financial services has lot of scope to grow as the penetration of the financial services in India is very low. Out of the total house hold savings, less than five per cent goes to the mutual fund and less than 15% to Life Insurance and less than 2 % to the general insurance.
In the process of restructuring, ABFS has appointed several professionals at the senior level at the insurance and mutual fund division. ABSF has taken Pankaj Razdan as deputy chief executive, from ICICI Prudential MF, Gautam Chinani as chief people office from American Express, A Dhananjaya as chief risk and as compliance officer from ABN Amro Bank. Srinivasan said, ?Right now we are concentrating on building a good professional team. We are also making some key hirings to aid our growth needs.?
Likewise, ABFS has several new appointments in life insurance division. Amitabh Verma was appointed as COO of Birla Sun Life Insurance from AIG Hong Kong and Chander Chellani as chief distribution officer from Metlife.