New India Assurance has teamed up with Akshaya Kendra, an e-services project of the State Government, for selling select non-life insurance policies in the State.
Minister for IT and Industries P.K. Kunhalikkutty formally declared open the joint initiative at a function here on Tuesday.
RENEWALS ALLOWED
G. Srinivasan, Chairman and Managing Director, New India Assurance, and P. Bala Kiran, Director, Kerala State IT Mission and Akshaya, were present on the occasion.
Individual village-level entrepreneurs running Akashaya centres will become agents, for whom a dedicated New India policy portal would be set by the Akshaya Kendra.
New India will be offering comprehensive private car; two-wheeler and commercial vehicle; health and other personal lines of insurance products through the portal.
Customers can also renew policies at Akshaya centres, of which more than 2,000 have been set up across the State as common service centres under the national e-governance programme.
DUE DILIGENCE
Bala Kiran said in his address that the bouquet of citizen services currently on offer through these centres is high-volume and relatively low income-generating.
“But if 100 out of the 10,000 persons transacting routine e-services at the centre were to buy general insurance policies, the income of entrepreneurs would go up many times over,” he said.
This is the objective with which the tie-up has been envisioned. The entrepreneurs have confided that they valued gains from capacity-building exercise much more than monetary benefits.
He requested New India Assurance to apply the same level of care and diligence when it came to claim processing and settlement ‘in order to uphold the credibility’ of the initiative.
INSURANCE INCLUSION
According to Srinivasan, Akshaya’s involvement will drive the objective of insurance inclusion in Kerala, which is already making rapid strides in Aadhaar seeding and other forms of financial inclusion.
General insurance penetration is as low as 0.78 per cent as a proportion of the GDP, which presented vast scope for expansion.
Srinivasan said New India Assurance expected to generate Rs 530 crore in turnover from Kerala during this year. It has more than 100 offices in the State.
STATUS UPDATES
Earlier, K. Sanath Kumar, director and general manager of the company, said that Akshaya centres would look to serve low-value vehicles such as autorickshaws and small commercial vehicles.
Settlement of claims may not be allowed but customers can get status updates on the claims from the centres. They need not anymore frequent the surveyor or insurance offices for this.
The centres will be able to open up a new and substantial revenue stream by selling general insurance thanks to the generous commission applicable at 10 to 15 per cent.
Also present on the occasion were C.J. Philip, deputy general manager, New India Assurance, and Padma Kumar, State project coordinator, Akshaya.
vinson.kurian@thehindu.co.in