The majority of the claims are from severely-affected West Bengal and nominal from Odisha, she said, adding, a bulk of those have been received from business enterprises, shops and factories.
On February 27, the Securities Appellate Tribunal allowed lenders Nippon India Mutual Fund and Credit Suisse to invoke shares of Reliance General Insurance pledged by Anil Ambani group firms. Lenders including Credit Suisse, Nippon Life, Life Insurance Corporation of India. Other banks and institutions own non-convertible debentures of Reliance General Insurance.
The insurance will help cover the expenses related to COVID-19 hospitalization and treatment as well as ambulance assistance and ICU charges of up to INR 50,000, and it will be valid for one year after activation, the company said in a statement.
"I think this is an year of survival, not everybody is likely to invest (in policies) when the GDP (gross domestic product) is not likely to do good. This year will not be an year of significant growth," Tarun Chugh, MD and CEO of Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance, told PTI in an interview.
The authority has suggested to the Finance Ministry that a comprehensive social security scheme can be explored for people having low income, according to PFRDA Chairman Supratim Bandyopadhyay.
Industry experts believe that the reduced number of claims is largely on the back of concerns among patients against visiting hospitals, and many patients are delaying non-essential surgeries to help prevent infections.
New Business Premium for the sector contracts by 32.6% while Annualised Premium Equivalent (APE) down by 40% mainly due to covid related disruptions in operations and tepid demand for equity linked products. Experts, however, find some positive in growth of group and protection products.
Now as the lockdown has been further extended up to May 17, 2020, the regulator has allowed extended grace period up to May 31 for all life insurance policies whose premium was due in March keeping in view the difficulty faced by some policyholders to renew the policies in time.
These companies have undertaken massive exercises to retrain agents to approach and convince customers to buy new policies and renew premiums entirely through digital channels such as WhatsApp or Zoom, while also rejigging sales strategies starting right from the drafts used by agents to approach prospective customers, said people aware of the developments.
The organisation is looking to retain all its 10,000+ employees, making sure that they have the protection and support they need in the current environment.
India's largest and the only state-owned insurer LIC, however, posted a decline in premium income at Rs 8.32 lakh crore during 2019-20, the data from the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) showed. LIC's premium collection stood at Rs 10.74 lakh crore during 2018-19. Its market share stood at 82.76 per cent as of March 31, 2020.
Building on the 15-year partnership, the two firms remain committed to offering their customers a broad range of need-based products and services, deploying technology across the customer value chain to further enhance efficiencies and leveraging existing ecosystems to facilitate superior experiences for their customers, the insurer said.
In a circular, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) said it has received representations from industry associations, seeking moratorium on repayment of term loans sanctioned by the insurers in the context of outbreak of Covid-19.
Bharti AXA General Insurance has tied up with Airtel Payments Bank to launch two health insurance plans-one offering a lump sum amount of Rs 25,000 and another with daily benefit starting Rs 500 per day-to provide protection from COVID-19, a company official said.
Only four of the 29 firms permitted by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India are marketing such fixed benefit policies and that too on a limited scale, as the new virus’ impact on humans and expenses to treat are completely out of sync with most models that insurers have, said people familiar with the developments.
Non-life insurance company Future Generali India Insurance on Tuesday said it will give a relief grant of Rs 50,000 each to its 'active' agents, if they or their immediate family members are tested positive for COVID-19.
