The referral arrangements of Bank of India and Union Bank of India to distribute products of the private life insurers backed by HDFC and ICICI Bank are expected to end within a month’s time as Star Union Dai-ichi Life Insurance Company has announced to sell its products through the network of 5,500 combined branches of Bank of India and Union Bank of India, and 1,500 branches of the regional rural banks across the country.
Addressing the media in Mumbai on Friday, M Balachandran, chairman, Star Union Dai-ichi Life Insurance Company said, “The authorized capital of this joint venture is Rs 250 crore. All the partners have enough headroom to infuse more capital as and when required. We will utilize the services of 70,000 employees of our partner banks to promote the life insurance products in India. We are currently recruiting around 1,000 people for sales & marketing activities and expect to open 20 regional offices in the country in the next fiscal.”
K Sahay, chief executive officer, Star Union Dai-ichi Life Insurance Company said, ” In the next fiscal, we expect to generate Rs 300 crore worth premium income. We anticipate 90% of our insurance business coming from non-ULIP linked segment in the prevailing scenario. Also, we plan to launch tailor made products for the downtrodden class of the society. These products would be marketed in association with microfinance companies across length and breadth of India.”
Bank of India, Union Bank of India and Dai-ichi currently hold 51%, 23% and 26% stake respectively in Star Union Dai-ichi Life Insurance Company Limited.
Balachandran said that the stake of the Japanese partner in the company may go up to 49% in future, whenever allowed by the insurance regulator.