Page 7 - Insurance Times February 2023

IRDAI approval to Sarnara Cap leads race for Kochi-based start-up for customer ex-
perience analytics.
United India on bonds Birla's insurance broking
Clootrack's AI-driven comprehensive
may set a precedent firm intelligent customer experience
The insurance regulator's approval Amazon.com Inc.'s Indian private eq- analytics platform offers a fully SAAS
to United India Insurance Co. to ex- uity partner Samara Capital has model, gathers and analyses billions of
ercise the call option on its bonds emerged as the frontrunner to buy the customer reviews to help enterprises
despite not meeting the minimum insurance broking unit of Aditya Birla understand "why" customer experi-
solvency ratio will set a precedent Capital Ltd, according to sources. ence drops.
for similar redemptions by peers,
"Over the past few weeks, Samara This tie-up will empower Kotak
experts said.
Capital and Aditya Birla Capital (the Mahindra General Insurance with ac-
The insurer raised Rs. 900 crore in
promoter of Aditya Birla Insurance tionable insights into its non-life insur-
February 2018 through a private
Brokers Ltd) have been negotiating the ance products through customer feed-
placement bond sale with a call op-
valuation. For Samara, entering the back and understand gaps in the mar-
tion after five years. The call option
financial services business is a crucial ket to improve its customer experi-
allows the issuer to buy back the
part of its strategy," one of the two ence.
bonds before the maturity date.
people cited above said, adding the
Clootrack's ability to process and
According to the IRDAI norms, in-
private equity firm has made an offer
analyse large amounts of data from
surers must maintain a minimum
for the insurance broker. If the nego-
multiple sources will help Kotak GI with
solvency ratio of 1.5. The ratio
tiations are successful, a deal may be
measures the company's cashflows informed decision-making. The granu-
reached at a value of Rs. 800-1,000
against its future liabilities and lar insights and findings will uncover
crore, making it one of the largest
shows the ability of an insurer to patterns, trends, and relationships that
transactions in the broking space, the
meet its obligations. can be used to fine-tune operations,
people said, requesting anonymity.
improve customer offerings, and iden-
"This decision to allow United India
tify new growth opportunities.
to use its call option shows that the
Kotak General Insurance
IRDAI is likely to allow future re- Pulak Sarmah, Senior VP and Head -
demptions by other public sector ties up with Clootrack to Marketing, Kotak Mahindra General
insurers. This could stem from the Insurance, said, "Customer insights are
boost customer experi-
fact state-backed companies have extremely crucial in today's age of rap-
sovereign backing and, therefore, ence idly evolving customer expectations
are low-risk in nature," said the
Kotak Mahindra General Insurance that shape experiences. Especially in a
first of the two analysts cited
Company Limited has announced that category with very little product differ-
above.
it has partnered with Clootrack, a entiation, creating positive customer
The Insurance Times January 2023 7