Mumbai: Even as the financial services industry looks at emulating the success of mobile telephony in market penetration, Max New York Life has taken the analogy one step further. The Delhi-based life insurance company has introduced the concept of pre-paid insurance card, which will be sold to distributors for onward retaili
ng. The company proposes to invest up to Rs 400 crore in this special project and has roped in IBM to provide the technology backbone. For the first time, the company will be issuing individual insurance contracts issued on the spot, through hand-held thermal printers which will connect to the back-end through cellphone networks. The similarity with the mobile business does not end with the pre-paid card. Max’s distribution strategy is also similar to the one followed by the mobile industry. The company plans to stock retail stores in small cities and semi-urban areas with a start-up package which comes in three denominations and offers five times the sum insured. The cost of the package ranges from Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,500. The money can also be topped up or withdrawn. However, there is a lock-in period of three years for withdrawal. The subsequent top-ups can be for values as low as Rs 10. Speaking to ET, Max New York Life chairman Analjit Singh said that with retail margins coming under pressure those retailers who have missed out on an opportunity to distribute mobile telephony services would be keen to distribute insurance. Mr Singh was among the earliest investors in the mobile telephony business having promoted Max Telecom, which he later sold to Hutchison, which, in turn, sold the business to Vodafone.
Mr Singh said that as the earnings of the policyholders improved, Max would aim to upsell them regular savings and investment products. “We have seen the mobile telephony market move from largely post-paid to a pre-dominantly pre-paid one. Now, the market is slowly moving towards post-paid again. We expect a similar move in insurance as well,” said Mr Singh. According to Max New York Life Sr director Anil Mehta, who heads the new markets strategic business unit, the plan, which has been christened Max Vijay, would be launched from Uttar Pradesh and extended across the country.
Mr Singh said that as the earnings of the policyholders improved, Max would aim to upsell them regular savings and investment products. “We have seen the mobile telephony market move from largely post-paid to a pre-dominantly pre-paid one. Now, the market is slowly moving towards post-paid again. We expect a similar move in insurance as well,” said Mr Singh. According to Max New York Life Sr director Anil Mehta, who heads the new markets strategic business unit, the plan, which has been christened Max Vijay, would be launched from Uttar Pradesh and extended across the country.
Source: The Economic Times
No comments:
Post a Comment