Page 25 - Insurance Times September 2020

three protection policies need to be The country's largest consumer brokerage licence, which will allow it
sold to match the premium that a internet platforms - from Flipkart to to become an online aggregator and
single endowment product brings. Paytm - are scaling up insurance busi- distributor of products.
Therefore, we have to balance the nesses with the promise of low cost,
The Jeff Bezos-owned company cur-
mix." low commitment and fully digital ser-
rently partners with Infosys founder
August saw a 15% growth in new pre- vices as demand for risk coverage rises NR Narayana Murthy-backed general
amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
miums for life insurers. This was after insurance startup Acko to sell a host of
four consecutive months of contrac- Ecommerce giants Flipkart and Ama- insurance products in the motor and
tion. For HDFC Life, the growth in new zon, ride hailing startup Ola, fintech liability segments.
premiums for August was 44%, data players Paytm, PhonePe and "We have seen a sea-change in how
from IRDAI showed. Meanwhile, HDFC Freecharge are selling diversified sets
retail customers are approaching buy-
Life has processed 235 coronavirus of policies -- ranging from health, life,
death claims worth 22 crore in the fi- motor, and business risk -- for custom- ing products and that will reflect in fi-
nancial products too," said Ruchi
nancial year. ers and merchants through tie-ups Deepak, co-founder of Acko.
It had set aside a pandemic-provision- with traditional insurance firms.
ary fund of 41 crore. Padalkar said that Others such as Facebook-owned HDFC Life joins hands with
the impact of the virus on the life in- WhatsApp and Google are also learnt
surance industry on claims was not as to be conducting pilot projects to gain Yes Bank to sell insurance
adverse as its non-life counterparts as expertise. policies
the mortality rates are low. "Studies Companies are currently shoring up
have shown that the overall deaths in partnerships, investing in technology HDFC Life Insurance on Tuesday said it
general have gone down," she said. and building resources to make a more has joined hands with corporate
"This could be because of reduced ac- agency agreement with Yes Bank to
informed foray into the insure-tech
cidents, which to an extent has had a space, according to industry execu- offer a comprehensive bouquet of life
neutralising effect on the impact of insurance solutions to the bank's cus-
tives.
coronavirus." tomers across the country.
"E-commerce recently enjoys a pan-
On the impending listing of the Life As part of the agreement, HDFC Life's
India reach, reliability and efficiency -
Insurance Corp of India (LIC), Padalkar factors that are major drivers for any diverse range of life insurance products
said that it was a "welcome move" as insurance product," said Smrithi will be offered to the customers of Yes
it would bring about more transpar- Bank through the bank's branches
Ravichandran, Business Head - Pay-
ency on the insurance sector's valua- ments, Consumer & Commercial Lend- spread across the country. HDFC Life's
tions. insurance products include solutions
ing and Insurtech, Flipkart.
"The listing of LIC is of utmost impor- The homegrown e-commerce giant for protection, savings and invest-
tance as it's the largest financial insti- ment, retirement and critical illness.
partners with leading insurers on the
tution in the country. It's not a wel- backend, such as Bajaj Allianz, New Commenting on the agreement, Suresh
come situation, even for India Inc, India Assurance, Aegon Life and Go Badami, executive director, HDFC Life
where the largest FI is unlisted," said said, "There is a huge potential for in-
Digit to sell life, health, liability, and
Padalkar. "Like it did for us, the listing business covers. surance coverage across life and
will bring more vigour to LIC as well. health protection, savings and annuity
"There is a wider acceptance of con-
Internet businesses rush in sumers opting for these products on e- products in our country. With our
commerce as it offers them conve- bancassurance experience, we aim to
as the pandemic widens nience and comfort, considering they offer a comprehensive suite of product
insurance market rely on these digital platforms for their solutions and best in class servicing,
India's burgeoning internet economy is daily requirements as well," leveraging our investments in technol-
Ravichandran said. ogy."
slowly warming up to the potential of
its massively underpenetrated insur- Amazon, which sells insurance on its "We are extremely excited to partner
ance market. platform, has applied for an insurance HDFC Life to offer our growing cus-

The Insurance Times, September 2020 21