MAX NEW YORK LIFE INSURANCE PARTNERS CNRI FOR MAX 'VIJAY'

Hyderabad: For its radical new initiative 'Max Vijay,' Max New York Life Insurance has announced a referral tie-up with Confederation of NGOs of Rural India (CNRI), engaging around 6,000 NGOs working in rural India, as the company's corporate agents.

In the first phase of this initiative, the company targets to sell more than 1.5 lakh Max Vijay policies through the reach provided by 150 NGOs, which will gradually increase to all 6,000 NGOs.

Addressing media persons Analjit Singh, Chairnman, Max New York Life Insurance Company Limited said that it also tie up its first corporate agency relationship with Mass Insitute of Rural Development (MIRD), an NGO with rural focus operating across 23 districts of Andhra Pradesh, having around 300 member NGOs.

Singh said, "through this association with CNRI, we hope to achieve the true potential of 'Max Vijay' and thus be the pioneers in reaching out to the underserved segment of the society."

As an industry first it also gives us an opportunity to add a new dimension to IRDA's agenda of provding financial solutions to underseved consumers." "CNRI has shown immense interest in playing an equal and active role in supporting us to take 'Max Vijay' to the remotest of locations and provide protection and saving accummulation opportunities, " Singh said.

J Harinarayan, Chairman Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority, said that there was more scope for Micro Insurance to grow. In reply to a question Harinarayan said that it was "satisfactory" but there was much scope to grow.

L V Saptharishi, Co-Chairman, CNRI said, "This referral tie-up with Max New York Life Insurance gives us an opportunity to promote 'Max Vijay'". We find it a unique concept, designed to provide better service to our customers. I am confident that this relationship will help the underserved masses and meet their aspiration from life."

Source: PTI, Business Standard, Deccan Chronicle, The Hindu Business Line

MICRO INSURANCE MUST FOCUS MORE ON RISK COVER: IRDA CHIEF

Irda chairman J Harinarayan felt the need for a change in the mind-set of insurance companies with respect to the micro-insurance products, which have to be focused on the risks at the micro level than on the lower premiums.

Speaking at the product launch meeting of Max New York Life here on Tuesday, Harinarayan said that the insurance companies should focus more on the risk cover than the lower premium for micro insurance. For instance, he said, the farmer has to face variety of risks from sowing to harvesting and if the insurance product offers proper cover at each of the risks would benefit the farmers. “These are the issues of designing and concern towards the human beings," he pointed out.

Responding to a question, the Irda chairman said that there is no need for altering any of the regulations as there are no complaints. The micro insurance is in its nascent stages and unless it picks up volumes, it would be improper to comment on its performance, he opined.

Earlier, Max New York Life chairman, Analjit Singh explained the product christened ‘Max Vijay’, a fixed premium policy at an affordable premium with flexible payment options.

The 10-year tenure policy is available with three premium payment options with a minimum enrollment premium of Rs 1,000, he said. Max New York Life to expand capital base

Max New York Life chairman Analjit Singh revealed that the company is expected to expand its capital base to Rs 3,600 crore by March 2011, as against the present paid-up capital of Rs 1,400 crore. The fresh capital will be invested in the ratio of 74:26 between Max India and New York Life, he said. The company also plans to expand its branch net up by 250 offices a year taking to 850 locations by 2010.

Source: The Financial Express

FOUR NEW PLAYERS AWAIT IRDA NOD

Hyderabad: The insurance sector is likely to become more crowded, with four companies, which are awaiting approval from the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA), starting operations.

“We cannot share further details on the pending approvals. We have asked for some particulars and the moment they submit them, we will issue R1 licence (the first of three licences required to start operations),” Mr J. Hari Narayana, Chairman, IRDA, told newspersons on the sidelines of a product launch function of Max New York Life Insurance here on Tuesday.

Micro insurance
On the trends in micro insurance, the Chairman said the interest of private players in the segment has been growing. “However, there is still a long way to go as the micro insurance business represents a miniscule in the insurance industry though India can be called a leader in micro insurance,” he said.

In 2007-08, out of total premium of Rs 1,00,000 crore, only Rs 125 crore came from micro insurance, he added, “Till recently, micro insurance was driven by the Government-led social security schemes. But now the time has come for an independent growth,” he observed.

The insurers should design different, unbundled micro insurance products to cater to the needs of the rural areas, he suggested. To expand the reach of distribution, the non-governmental organisations (NGOs) should also consider a broking model as against agent model widely adopted currently. “I understand that the costs in broking model are high and we can workout a mechanism to bring them down for NGOs,” Mr Narayana said.

Source: The Hindu Business Line

MINISTRY HOPES TO MAKE PF AVAILABLE FOR ALL CITIZENS

Even as the finance minister plans to reach out to all parties and seek their support for the Pension Bill, his ministry is considering a proposal to throw open schemes floated by the public sector fund managers for government employees to all private citizens. According to government officials, the PFRDA had sought legal opinion from its advocate on the issue. “Legally, it does not pose any problems,” said PFRDA chairman D Swarup. Workers in the unorganised sector will be the biggest beneficiaries since they do not have any social security mechanism now. A finance ministry official, however, said such schemes generally become successful if backed by statute. “Ideally, the government would like to make pension funds available to all private citizens by getting the Bill passed at the earliest.”

Source: The Indian Express

FINMIN MAKES COMPROMISES TO ENSURE PASSAGE OF PENSION BILL

New Delhi: Aware of the precarious balance the UPA finds itself in Parliament and to ensure that pension reforms receive all party support, the finance ministry has compromised on four significant aspects of the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) Bill.

According to government officials, the finance ministry has decided to include the 26 per cent cap on foreign direct investment (FDI) in pension funds in the main Bill. This is similar to the legislation in the insurance sector that specifies the cap in the Insurance Act itself. Earlier, the ministry had proposed to relegate the FDI provision in the regulations, thus obviating the need to go back to Parliament for hiking the limit.

The second major change relates to providing subscribers the option to invest their pension fund contributions entirely in debt, making it a risk-free avenue. This has also been included in the Bill. This was done based on the recommendations of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance to placate Left parties that were completely opposed to the Bill. The investment options were earlier supposed to be part of rules and regulations to be framed by the regulator once the legislation was enacted.

In allowing pension funds to invest 15 per cent of their corpus in equity (5 per cent directly in stocks and 10 per cent in equity-based mutual funds), the ministry had earlier not specified if overseas investments were allowed. Now, in an effort to find all round support, including from the Left, the ministry has proposed in the Bill that funds would not invest the corpus abroad.

The last issue relates to the choice of funds to manage the contributions of government employees who joined service after January 1, 2004. The Bill, to be introduced in the next session of Parliament, specifically says that there should be at least one public sector fund manager among the various fund managers to be appointed by the regulator. Source: Indian Express