Thursday, August 28, 2008

MINISTRY OF STATISTICS OFFERS TO SHARE DATA WITH INSURERS

Hyderabad: The Union Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, is ready to share vital data with the insurance companies and provide consultancy, according to Dr Pronab Sen, Chief Statistician and Secretary of the Ministry.

“Though our primary task is to provide data on various aspects to the Planning Commission, we do possess lot of figures, which will be useful for the insurance and other financial services providers,” Dr Sen told Business Line here recently.

We have all data
On the specific data that can be shared with the financial sector, he said it depends on what a company is looking for. “From demographic patterns to income levels, all data will be with us,” he added.

The collection and accessing of data in the banking sector is easy due to the long history of banking in India and role of the Reserve Bank of India. The insurance industry still suffers from absence of data, which is crucial in product designing and marketing strategies, he pointed out.

“Unfortunately, nobody approaches us for data on insurance/banking even though we are sitting on a large data base,” Dr Sen said, adding that there was a tendency to pick up only supportive data by the corporates to suit their beliefs and needs. The relationship between data-generators and data-users should be based on two separate platforms for accuracy of inferences, he added.

Consultancy too
“If there is a dialogue between us and the insurance industry, we can guide them to the right data base. We are ready to provide consultancy if asked,” Dr Sen said.

Source: The Hindu Business Line

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