Bharati AXA to tap Airtel customer base for insurance

In order to tap the life insurance market of Uttar Pradesh, Bharti AXA Life Insurance Company Ltd, a joint venture between the Bharti Enterprises and global insurance major AXA Group, is keen to leverage the existing client and distribution base of mobile services provider, Bharti Airtel in the state.

“Bharti Airtel has about 4 million customers across Uttar Pradesh, which we will try to bring under our life insurance services in the initial phase. The company would extend presence in the city through Airtel Relationship Centres (ARCs), where Bharti Airtel customers will have access to our range of life insurance services and quality advice on financial protection,” Nitin Chopra, chief executive officer (CEO) of Bharti AXA Life Insurance told Business Standard.

The company opened its first branch office in Lucknow today and plans to establish its presence in 9 major cities in the state, including Kanpur, Agra, Varanasi, Allahabad and Bareily by the end of the current financial year.

“About 200 customers walk daily into each of our ARC. This adds to about 200,000 customers daily as we have a total of 1,000 ARCs across the country. In Lucknow, we hope to have our presence in 9 ARCs by August and aim to expand to all the ARCs in the city by the end of this year,” Chopra said.

Presently there are about 95 ARCs in the state.

“We expect at least 10 per cent business share from the state,” Chopra added.

The life insurance industry collected weighted new premium income of Rs. 75, 000 crores in 2006-07, exhibiting a growth of 114% over the previous year.

However, with an insurable population estimated to be around 300 million, the current penetration rate is only 22 per cent.

The company’s business centre, which was already operational in the state since March this year, has till date insured about 700-800 lives providing about 1,000 policies in total.

“We have done policies worth approximately of Rs 7,000,000 from Lucknow,” informed Sudhakar Saxena, branch sales manager, Lucknow.

The company opened its first branch office in Hyderabad, last August. At present it has operations at 23 locations through 12 branches across the country. 74 per cent stake of the joint venture is held by Bharti and the remaining 26 per cent by AXA Asia Pacific Holdings Ltd (APH).

Source: Business Standard