Facing competition between themselves and public sector behemoth Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), some of the 23 private life insurers have come out with unique schemes and offers to win customers.
HDFC Life
HDFC Life, in a first of its kind initiative, is offering jobs to family members of deceased policyholders apart from paying the claim amount; Max Life is betting on its speedy claim settlement track record while Bajaj Allianz is attracting policyholders from Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities by offering a unique unit-linked policy that offers safety and better returns.
“We have started offering jobs to eligible family members of deceased policyholders at the time of claim under our Swabhiman Careers which is a part of our CSR (corporate social responsibility) initiative. As a customer-centric organisation, we want to stand by the family that has lost the primary income earner,” said Rajendra Ghag, Senior Executive Vice-President & Chief Human Resource Officer, HDFC Life. Under this initiative, the company reaches out to its deceased policyholder’s dependents on claim settlement and considers them for an employment in the company’s operations and sales department.
“We believe that when a customer buys a policy, our relationship extends beyond the policyholder to also embrace their loved ones. By providing a fair chance to the dependents to become an HDFC Life employee, we are helping them to secure their future. Our association does not end with the ‘transaction’ of claim settlement,” said Mr. Ghag.
HDFC Life has 47 lakh customers and it receives an average number of 6,335 individual death claims per year. Thus, the company is ready to offer employment to about 6,000 families every year, it said. A 12th pass candidate can ideally start with an annual salary of Rs.2 lakh.
Max Life
To treat customers ‘fairly’, Max Life Insurance has come out with an initiative called ‘Claims Guarantee’ by ensuring to pay all claims on policies that have completed three continuous years of coverage, unless obtained with fraudulent intentions.
It has vowed to pay account value of all life claims of unit-linked policies within 48 hours of claim intimation and settle all claims within 10 working days of receipt of all claim documents. In case of delay it is willing to pay interest. It also has Claims Relationship Officers to provide personalised assistance for every death claim settlement.
“Claims is an important aspect of the life insurance business, because claimants, who are dealing with the painful incidence of losing a loved one, needs our support and reassurance and not complicated follow-up processes,” Rajesh Sud, CEO and Managing Director, Max Life Insurance, said.
“We are one of the few companies to register claims upon receipt of intimation even if proof of death has not been provided,” Mr. Sud said.
Bajaj Allianz
To explore a large market in emerging cities, Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance is offering ULIP schemes with very low premium to help people meet their financial goals.
“Our unique policy ‘Life Assure’ offers multiple choices and the customer has the flexibility to mix-and-match. It is regular and limited pay insurance plan keeping the customers from Tier-2, Tier-3 cities in mind,” said Rituraj Bhattacharya, Head-Market Management, Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance.
With minimum monthly premium of only Rs.1,000, one can opt for sum assured up to 50 times the annualised premium. Apart from basic life cover, this plan provides enhanced coverage at no extra cost.
Today the key to success in an industry plagued by losses is to be different and customer-oriented. A recent Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) report said that the Indian insurance industry would grow below 5 per cent in 2013-14 indicating the tough business environment.
