The Hindu Business Line : Shriram Life kicks off operations

SHRIRAM Life Insurance Company Ltd, the life insurance joint venture between the Chennai-based Shriram Group and the South African insurance major Sanlam, has announced the launch of its life insurance operations here on Friday.

Addressing newspersons, the Shriram Group Chairman, Mr R. Thyagarajan, said the group has initiated steps to foray into general insurance and mutual funds areas shortly in collaboration with Sanlam. Sanlam is the largest general insurance player in South Africa and its funds under management for mutual fund business are more than the size of the Indian mutual fund industry, Mr Thyagarajan said.

"We want to demonstrate our success in life insurance business to them (Sanlam) before firming up plans for general insurance and mutual fund businesses. We are confident of achieving cash break-even in three years time as against the existing Indian life insurance players' expectations of 8-10 years ," Mr Thyagarajan, said.

According to him, Shriram Life has set a target of achieving a premium income of Rs 110 crore during the first year of operations, which is significant compared to the record of other Indian private life insurance players. While focussing largely on the strong network of over 65,000 agents and distribution network of more than 550 branches, Shriram Life is also contemplating bancassurance alliances with couple of banks.

The Shriram Life Managing Director, Ms Akhila Srinivasan, said the company's strong presence in semi-urban and rural areas would give it an edge over other existing players.

Of over 65,000 agents across the country, close to 30,000 were eligible to undergo training required under the IRDA guidelines for insurance agents. Already over 5,000 agents were trained and the company expects to impart training to remaining eligible agents in the next 2-3 years and go in for recruiting more eligible agents, Ms Srinivasan said.