IndiaFirst Life Insurance Company Ltd (IndiaFirst) expects to break even by November 2013, a senior company official said. This is two years ahead of the envisaged timeline of November 2015.
The optimism is because the company is already outperforming its initial business plans by 20-30 per cent, both topline and bottomline, Dr P. Nandagopal, Managing Director and CEO, IndiaFirst, said.
IndiaFirst, which entered the life insurance market in November 2009, is a joint venture of Bank of Baroda, Andhra Bank and UK-based Legal and General.
Higher premium income
Dr Nandagopal said the company's initial business plan had projected a break-even in six years from commencement of operations.
This fiscal, the company recorded new business premium income of Rs 1,000 crore which, he said, was commendable in the current market conditions and sluggish economic environment. IndiaFirst had registered new business premium income of about Rs 700 crore in 2010-11, he said.
Dr Nandagopal said there was no immediate plan to raise capital. He said capital raising may happen the next financial year but much would depend on business growth. Currently, the company has paid-up capital of about Rs 630 crore.
Besides the bancassurance channel, the company also uses insurance agents to distribute its products.
There are plans to ramp up the number of agents from 1,500 to 10,000 by March 2013, Dr Nandagopal said.