There is an imperative need to create awareness on the need for insurance in cyclone-prone coastal areas such as Visakhapatnam and insurance companies can tap business opportunities in such areas, according to Mr Amarnath Ananthanarayanan, CEO and Managing Director of Bharti AXA General Insurance.
He was addressing the press here on Wednesday. He said his company, one of the fastest growing multi-line insurance companies in the country, was planning to strengthen its base in South India, focussing on Visakhapatnam. It would strengthen its distribution network.
Bharti AXA had increased its gross written premiums by 47 per cent during 2011 compared with the previous year and sold 6.8 lakh policies during the last year and the figure was likely to reach nine lakhs. It was planning to reduce its motor vehicles wing and push up health sector business, he added.
Focus areas
“Our focus areas are South and East India and smaller cities in these regions. We want to increase our agent strength of 4,000 by another thousand for more penetration into the tier III cities,” he said.
It had applied to the Insurance Regulatory Authority to introduce new products in travel, health and motor vehicles areas. The company has a business share of 3.68 per cent among private insurance companies and 1.7 per cent overall. As far as Visakhapatnam is concerned, the company had done Rs 3.38 crore of business during 2011, the bulk of it coming from motor vehicles sector.