SBI Life Insurance has taken up the initiative of educating its customers on the effects of the current economic crisis so that they know how to deal with their investments.
SBI Life managing director and chief executive Uday Sankar Roy has encouraged customers to go for renewal payments, as he feels this is the right time to collect units. He said these units would pay much more when the market stabilises.
Roy was speaking at a customer meet organised by the company in Kolkata on Saturday.
He has also urged customers to refrain from drawing investments from the market.
When asked about infusion of capital into the company, Roy said there is no need for it as SBI Life is well above the solvency ratio of 1.5. But depending on the market position after December , t he company may think about infusion in the fourth quarter of this fiscal to take care of the first half of the next.
SBI Life is not thinking about its IPO at present. “We are initiating steps for it, but we are not sure at this juncture when it will be coming,” Roy said.
“The drop in the Sensex is not unusual. This is only a correction phase. Today’s market condition is primarily a reaction to the western economic downturn. Our economic fundamentals are as strong as they were a couple of years back,” he said regarding the present upheaval in the Indian market.
When top companies are reporting losses, SBI Life’s new business APE (annual premium equivalent) YTD November 2008 grew 144% to Rs 2832.21 crore as compared with the Rs 1160.35 crore recorded during the year-ago period. But by the end of this fiscal, the growth will be around 80%, as the recession will hit the company in the fourth quarter.
Total premium during the period grew 86% to Rs 4051.44 crore (Rs 2173 crore), new business premium 78% to Rs 3292 crore (Rs 1848 crore), assets under management 93% to Rs 13214 crore.
The present market share of the company, according to Irda, is 15.33%.
In the east, the number of SBI Life branches increased 60% over the period to 40 from 25, while business grew 411% to Rs 730 crore (Rs 143 crore).
The company launched microfinance scheme Grameen Shakti in Bengal last month. Over a span of 45 days, 79,990 lives have been insured at a premium of Rs 3.2 crore.
