Festival offer from ING Vysya Life Insurance

BL Research Bureau

ING Vysya Life Insurance, in a bid to increase market share, has come out with a special Diwali gift this festival season - an enhancement of the life insurance policy.

ING Vysya Life Insurance will contribute towards increasing the life cover of each policy-holder by 50 per cent for the first year of the policy at no additional charge. This is subject to a maximum additional complimentary life cover of Rs 2.5 lakh. That is, a policy-holder holding a cover of more than Rs 5 lakh will see his cover extended only by Rs 2.5 lakh.

The offer extends only to insurance cover in the event of demise of the policy-holder, and does not accrue on survival benefits. The offer has been made available for existing customers, and the new customers who take an insurance policy from the company before November 30.

Group insurance from Tata

Tata AIG Life Insurance and Tata Homefinance have jointly launched a group insurance policy, called the Mortgage Reducing Term Insurance (MRTI) plan. MRTI is a voluntary plan being offered to customers of Tata Homefinance.

In the event of loss of life, customers of Tata Homefinance are insured against the liability of mortgage payments by the insurance cover provided by Tata AIG Life insurance. The policy-holder in this case will be Tata Homefinance. The MRTI plan is offered as a group benefit package, and comes with an option for coverage of permanent and total disability too.

`Secure' with Tata AIG

Another offer from the Tata group. Tata AIG General Insurance has recently launched its Home Secure package - targeted at defraying liabilities incurred on the residential property of the policyholder. Available in six different variants (Value, Select, Classic, Plus, Excel and Premier), the policy offers comprehensive coverage against burglary, fire and public liability.

Further, the plan also covers damage of household goods in transit and a compensation for temporary re-location (if the house is being renovated). Value addition in the form of purchase protection, personal accident insurance and loss of money in transit is also provided. The package could be customised depending on the value of the property and the term of the plan.

Max New York Life appoints Gram Sewaks

Max New York Life Insurance has appointed two Gram Sewaks in Medak district of Andhra Pradesh as a part of its strategy to extend its reach in the country's hinterland. According to the company, it plans to leverage the knowledge and communication skills of the Gram Sewaks to create awareness about life insurance in the rural areas. The Gram Sewaks are Mr Anand Kulkarni (a post office in-charge) and Mr Y. Srinivas (an agriculturist).

Max NewYork Life currently offers rural life insurance for up to Rs 10,000, for an annual premium of Rs 100 till the age of 60, in a package called the Easy Term Policy. The company has so far introduced five life insurance policies and seven options that can be customised to over 200 combinations, addressing the needs and means of a broad category of consumers. All policies come with an unconditional acceptance of return of the policy within 10 days from the date of purchase.

GIC forays into reinsurance

The General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC) is considering the life reinsurance business. This would be the first time the company deals with the life segment of the insurance business. GIC has been the traditional overseer of non-life public sector insurance companies in the country. Thus, its activities have been confined to reinsuring policies of these general insurance companies.

However, anticipating the huge potential life insurance holds in the coming years, GIC is now keen on leveraging its reinsurance capabilities and setting up a separate division to undertake reinsurance business from players in the domestic life insurance sector. The division may also look at taking up reinsurance business from companies outside India.

Life insurance products from Dabur CGU

Dabur CGU Life Insurance Company plans to sell life insurance products with three products in its catalogue - the profiles of which have been submitted to the IRDA for approval. Of these, one is a single premium product. The other two feature a regular premium product and a savings and protection plan.

What is unique to the offer strategy of the company, is that its products will be indexed to inflation by default. This means the premium as well and the sum assured will move in consonance with the inflation rate, unless the buyer chooses to indicate otherwise. Dabur CGU also believes in having a smaller number of agents with their commissions too indexed to inflation.