Star Union Dai-ichi to target SMEs for group insurance

CHENNAI - Star Union Dai-ichi Life Insurance Company is targeting small and medium enterprises (SME) which are clients of its two promoter banks- Bank of India Union and Bank of India- for its group insurance products.

“We are focused on the SMEs which are clients of our promoter banks for our group products. We will be targeting them for our term, pension and gratuity policies,” Assistant Vice President (Group Business) S. Chandrasekaran told IANS.

According to him, the private life insurer has earned around Rs.20 million this year in the southern region comprising Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Puducherry this fiscal and is targeting group business of Rs.50 crore.

“There are around 2,000 SME clients of our promoters and we are confident of achieving the target,” Chandrasekaran added.

The company is also in the process of adding up more products to cater to the group segment.

Apart from SMEs, the two promoting banks will identify the self help groups (SHGs) to sell group insurance policies.

Meanwhile, Union Bank of India and Bank of India are planning to activate the remaining 20 percent branches in the southern region to sell the products of Star Union Dai-ichi Life.

In this region, both the banks have a total branch network of around 1,120 outlets of which 80 percent have started selling life insurance policies.

According to D. Krishnamurthy, vice president (Southern Region), the life insurer hopes to contribute around Rs.150 crore to the company’s topline this year.

Discounting any major impact on the company owing to the new regulations governing the unit linked insurance plans (ULIPs), Krishnamurthy said the ticket size is expected to go up to Rs.100,000 from earlier Rs.70,000.

He said the contribution of ULIP to the topline will, however, come down to 45 percent from the earlier 75 percent.

–Indo Asian News Service