After witnessing a downturn in their business in 2008-09, private sector life insurers are now targeting growth for 2009-10 with a set of new strategies.
SBI Life MD and CEO US Roy said, ?It is true that customers are not investing due to the slowdown. In fact, this why we are likely to close 2008-09 with a total premium growth of not more than 20-25% compared with a growth of 90% a year ago. We are hopeful to achieve the same growth during the current fiscal.?
In new business premium, the second largest private sector company is likely to touch Rs 5,250-crore mark during 2008-09 compared with Rs 4,800 crore earning a year ago. ?We have to build up our health and micro-insurance products in a more aggressive way this year,? Roy added.
ICICI Prudential Life executive director B Bhargav Dasgupta said after the explosive triple digit growth that the industry has witnessed in the past years, there has been a slowdown to an extent. ?For us, over 90% of the inflows are still Ulips. This clearly indicates that investors have realised the long-term potential of the product. The growth prospects of Ulips remain intact. While the current volatile phase might have short-term impact, the sector?s medium-term as well as long-term growth prospects rest on strong fundamentals of economy as well as sound regulatory framework. We have witnessed a strong growth of 75% in our renewal premium last year, reflecting the long-term sustainability of the business,? he said.
Reliance Life Insurance CEO P Nandagopal said, ?The year 2008-09 was good for the company as it has done the new business premium (NBP) of more than Rs 3,500 crore compared with the previous year?s mark of Rs 2,751 crore.? He added, ?We are hopeful of doing well this year, too, though the growth may be slow until September, thanks to the GDP growth rate being down and slow recovery during the period. But I am confident that our growth will pick up from October onwards.??
The company has been relying more on Ulip products, which comprise 95% of its offerings.
?However, the ratio may be tweaked to a little extent and Ulip may come down slightly to 90% going forward. We don?t see much difference during this fiscal as customers are moving away from traditional products,?? he added.
According to Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance CEO Kamesh Goyal, 2008-09 was difficult for various investment tools. ?It has become quite competitive and at the same time with low market sentiment, customers are now looking at more secure investment modes. Going forward, life insurance will still be the most preferred investment tool which will help in the growth of life insurance in the new financial year,?? explained Goyal.
Meanwhile, Aviva India will have the renewal premium as its key focus area. Aviva India CEO and MD TR Ramachandran said, ?We have experienced a growth of 52% in FY09 (YTD) and constantly looking at measures to improve renewal premiums. In 2009-10, we expect to grow at 20-25%.? The company?s immediate focus areas will be to develop a multi-distribution model and agency force to 50,000 to 60,000 by the year-end (2009-10). We are also exploring other distribution alternatives, he observed.
Aegon Religare Life Insurance CEO F Rajiv Jamkhedkar said, ?We have entered the market during last fiscal only. We have grown by 100% over the previous quarter and our new business premium on an annualised basis crossed the mark of Rs 40 crore as on 31 March, 2009. We have the ratio of Ulips and traditional products of 75:25. However, it is likely to change to 70:30 during the current fiscal.?
Max NY Life executive vice-president strategic planning and business development G Prashant Tripathy said, ?The total business during 2008-09 grew at 25-30% and we expect to maintain the growth level during the current fiscal too. As of now the Ulip will continue to be a popular product. Still, there may be a marginal shift. In my company?s case I do see a shift of 70:30 from the currently existing ratio of 75:25 in the Ulip and traditional products. We have lined up a series of products in the segments like investment and health to roll out during the current fiscal.?
IDBI Fortis Life Insurance, MD and CEO GV Nageswara Rao said, ?The final sales numbers are still to come in with the financial books closing. But as on February end, we have collected over Rs 250 crore premium with over 70,000 policies and over 2,000 crore of sum assured.
The life insurer? s innovative product WealthsuranceTM has received good response from the customers. ?The proportion of premiums going to guaranteed return funds has risen from around 20% in March, 2008, to over 50% as of today. Even Capital Guaranteed funds, which attracted negligible premiums at the beginning is now attracting over 7% of the WealthsuranceTM premiums,?? he said.
