Bharti AXA Life Insurance company is on an expansion mode and has brought on board 10,000 more insurance advisors besides adding 50 new branches this fiscal, a top official said.
The aggressive expansion drive is part of the company’s overall strategy to strengthen its operation and enhance distribution footprint across the country.
This year, the overall advisor count has grown to 38,000 from 28,638 insurance advisors as on March 31, 2018. The overall branch network has grown to 236 branches across India in the current financial year, up 27 per cent over 186 branched as on March 31, 2018.
“We have embarked upon our most aggressive expansion drive in the recent years and added close to 10,000 insurance advisors and 50 new branches during the current financial year. We plan to create a large pool of productive agents, strengthen our existing advisor base and reach out to every nook and corner of the country. This will strengthen our distribution bandwidth and help in new customer acquisition,” Vikas Seth, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Bharti AXA Life Insurance, said.
He said that the company is focusing on Tier-II and Tier-III for branch expansion and insurance agent hiring and it plans to continue its expansion spree in the next financial year with a focus on profitable growth.
Bharti AXA Life Insurance, a joint venture between Bharti Enterprises and French insurance behemoth AXA, recorded 40 per cent growth in its new business premium to ₹617 crore during the April-December period of 2018-19 from ₹442 crore in the corresponding period a year ago.
The company posted 19 per cent growth in its renewal premium ₹742 crore in the first three quarters of this fiscal, as compared to ₹623 crore in the same period during the financial year 2017-18.
The annualised new business premium grew 48 per cent to ₹422 crore in the first nine months of 2018-19 against ₹286 crore in the similar period of 2017-18.
The individual claims settlement ratio, which indicates death claims settled by a life insurance company in a financial year, stood at 96.7 per cent as on December 31, 2018. “We have outgrown the life insurance industry in the first nine months of this fiscal. We are confident of achieving a robust growth by the end of the current financial year,” Seth said.
He said that the company would continue to focus on traditional products, agent productivity, cost-efficiency and channel and distribution diversification for pursuing its growth aspirations in times to come.