{"id":43878,"date":"2023-12-02T15:39:00","date_gmt":"2023-12-02T15:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cabanesetcompagnie.com\/?p=43878"},"modified":"2023-12-02T15:39:00","modified_gmt":"2023-12-02T15:39:00","slug":"its-a-tough-job-to-sell-life-insurance-to-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cabanesetcompagnie.com\/business\/its-a-tough-job-to-sell-life-insurance-to-people\/","title":{"rendered":"‘It’s a tough job to sell life insurance to people’"},"content":{"rendered":"
‘We are expected to grow at above 28 per cent this year, higher than the industry.’<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Shriram Life Insurance Company, a joint venture between Shriram Group and South Africa-based Sanlam Ltd, is betting big on the rural market, from where it gets about 45 per cent of its business.<\/p>\n Casparus J H Kromhout<\/strong>, managing director and chief executive officer, talks to Shine Jacob<\/strong>\/Business Standard<\/em> about its growth road map, rural market penetration, and expansion plans in the lower-income population at the company’s office in Chennai.<\/p>\n Overall life insurance penetration in India is hardly 3-4 per cent now. How do you look at this?<\/strong><\/p>\n There is a lot of focus on it now, with the regulator in the past few years putting emphasis on it.<\/p>\n We are seeing some movement, but penetration is still quite low, and the opportunity is big.<\/p>\n India is a country of countries in many ways, and each of the states is extremely large.<\/p>\n Even though it has grown, there is still a lot that can be done because India is below the world average.<\/p>\n In South Africa, from where I come, life insurance penetration is closer to 12 per cent.<\/p>\n The focus in India is still on people in the higher-income segment.<\/p>\n There is a bit more awareness now, but life insurance is still seen mostly as a tax-saving alternative.<\/p>\n If you look at penetration in the lower-income segment, it is significantly less.<\/p>\n As an industry, we have a big job to reach out to more families and get them covered.<\/p>\n Whether it is finance or insurance, Shriram focuses on communities that typically do not get covered by the mainstream.<\/p>\n According to reports, Private life-insurance firms are expected to grow 9-12 per cent in FY24. How do you see your growth?<\/strong><\/p>\n Profits are very good, and we are investing very significantly in capacity for business development.<\/p>\n Life insurance is a face-to-face activity, and the tough job for anybody is to sell it to people.<\/p>\n We are expected to grow at above 28 per cent this year, higher than the industry.<\/p>\n Around 45 per cent of our business comes from rural India.<\/p>\n The focus for us is retail business, and that’s where we are seeing growth. Last year, we had 24 per cent growth.<\/p>\n What is the impact of the new norms on taxing the total returns on high-value life insurance policies on your company?<\/strong><\/p>\n We are in a segment where we cover more families with lower premiums. We are in a segment where only a few customers are able to spend more than Rs 5 lakh on insurance premiums.<\/p>\n We are trying to cover the aam aadmi<\/em>, and the large segments of society.<\/p>\n Percentage-wise, such high-end customers will be insignificant for us and will be in decimals, if at all.<\/p>\n The average annual premium for the industry is Rs 60,000-70,000, whereas for us it is around Rs 20,000.<\/p>\n Now, we are number seven in terms of the number of policies that we serve, but the premium size is much lower.<\/p>\n So, for us, there is no impact of the base effect following the change in norms. We are protected as a company.<\/p>\n You have a 45 per cent share in the rural market, one of the highest in the industry. What will be your strategy?<\/strong><\/p>\n The rural population in India is 65-70 per cent of the total. It is much more difficult to reach rural customers. We are committed to this market.<\/p>\n With Shriram Group, we have a large customer base in the rural market, where cross-selling of the life insurance business can happen.<\/p>\n Their life is not protected for additional money for the families, if something happens.<\/p>\n We have reached out to them. Our strategy will be to continuously increase the access that we have through Shriram Group.<\/p>\n We create business models that are unique and technology-driven in rural areas — feet-on-street models.<\/p>\n Where do you like to see the rural market after three years?<\/strong><\/p>\n I want the share of the rural market to cross 50 per cent. We will be growing quite fast.<\/p>\n We are seeing over 20 per cent growth year-on-year as a plan towards 2030.<\/p>\n At present, closer to 50 per cent claims are coming from the rural market.<\/p>\n Our claim settlement ratio was around 97.4 per cent in FY23, up from 95 per cent in FY21.<\/p>\n This financial year we are targeting around 98 per cent. We are on a par with the top players and are focusing on a sector in which risk and mortality are higher.<\/p>\n