Give a pass to women-centric insurance plans

Parents and grandparents looking to save for their children/grandchildren's future have been the biggest targets for life insurance companies. The next in line are those 10-15 years away from retirement. In the recent past, life insurers have started focusing on women and have come up with products catering to women-specific needs, specially health-related.http://www.myallagents.com/Give-a-pass-to-womencentric-insurance-plans/details.html

BS People: S S Mundra

The challenges facing S S Mundra, the new chairman and managing director of public sector lender Bank of Baroda, are different from the ones his peers have to deal with. While most state-owned banks are grappling with asset quality headwinds, Bank of Baroda is quite comfortable on that front. The lender has managed to maintain a decent gross and net non-performing asset ratio in comparison to other banks, despite some problems in asset quality. 

http://www.myallagents.com/BS-People-S-S-Mundra/details.html 

Irda publishes five key reforms in gazette

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irda) has published in the gazette of India five key reforms related to the sector, including new guidelines for insurers and reinsurers. The reforms are: Investment regulations for insurers, Irda (life insurance-reinsurance) regulations; places of business regulations; Irda appointed actuary amendment regulations and regulations for the standard proposal form.  According to the actuary  http://www.myallagents.com/Irda-publishes-five-key-reforms-in-gazette/details.html

Planning to buy insurance this year?

If you are planning to buy an insurance policy this year - either life or health - you should hold the purchase until the products are refiled. The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irda) has given insurers time till June 30, 2013 and September 30, 2013 to re-file their group and individual products, respectively  .http://www.myallagents.com/Planning-to-buy-insurance-this-year/details.html

LIC is India's most attractive BFSI bran

At present, under Employee’s Deposit Linked Insurance (EDLI) scheme, wherein employer contributes 0.50% of the basic pay as insurance premium every month to the EDLI scheme, employee gets the benefit equal to his provident account balance if the balance is upto Rs. 50,000 and if it exceeds Rs. 50,000 then account balance plus 40% of the balance. However there is a cap of Rs. 100,000 upto which the benefit can be availed. Prior to the year 2010, the maximum benefit available under this scheme was Rs. 60,000. http://www.myallagents.com/LIC-is-Indias-most-attractive-BFSI-bran/details.html 

Why Cobrapost expose was a non-event for bank stocks

The shrill Cobrapost bite, this time mostly on large state-owned banks and insurance companies, failed to upset the market confidence on banking shares. The latest sting operation turned out to be a non-event that did not lead to panic-selling by investors on Monday. Bank Nifty was flat to close the day's trading at 12,396.

Source: moneycontrol.com  

http://www.myallagents.com/Why-Cobrapost-expose-was-a-nonevent-for-bank-stocks/details.html 

Majority of companies discontinue to include parents in group medical insurance policy

mployees’ health and benefits study by Insurance broker Marsh India revealed that there has been a drop of around 76% in companies providing health insurance cover facilities to the employees’ parents under group mediclaim policy. The main reason attributable to the same is high premium cost.http://www.myallagents.com/Majority-of-companies-discontinue-to-include-parents-in-group-medical-insurance-policy 

US rating firm AM Best says National Insurance has good financial strength

KOLKATA: AM Best, a US-based insurance industry rating agency, has assigned a financial strength rating of "B++" and issuer credit rating of "bbb+" to National Insurance Company Ltd. The outlook for both ratings is stable.  The ratings reflect the insurer's strong risk-adjusted capitalisation, diversified business portfolio, consistent business income and its leading position in India's motor insurance sector, the rating company said in a press statement released from Hong   http://www.myallagents.com/US-rating-firm-AM-Best-says-National-Insurance-has-good-financial-strength/details.html

Online insurance sales to grow 20 times by 2020

MUMBAI: The online insurance market in India is likely to grow 20 times by 2020, a study showed. 
A study conducted by Boston Consultancy Group and Google showed that overall internet influenced sales would be Rs 15,000 crore to Rs 20,000 crore. 

At present, it is in excess of Rs 700 crore online sales. Life insurance sales contribute around Rs 300 crore, motor insurance around Rs. 250 crore, while other insurance lines such as health and travel make up around Rs 150 crore. 

Digital insurance in India is set to become massive, supported by developments like mobility to drive Internet growth, move over natives, the migrants are in full force and move over metros, the report said. http://www.myallagents.com/Online-insurance-sales-to-grow-20-times-by-2020/details.html 

How to Claim for Health Insurance from Multiple Insurers

Healthcare costs were significantly lower a decade ago. A health policy of Rs. 2 lakh back then could provide adequate coverage for a small family; today, the same policy will not go far.

Galloping inflation in healthcare has ensured that a single health plan is no longer enough. Many are now buying multiple policies in order to increase their health coverage. However, multiple policies give rise to multiple queries regarding the claims process 

: http://www.myallagents.com/How-to-Claim-for-Health-Insu 

rance-from-Multiple-Insurers/details.html 

Comprehensive health plans better for specific diseases

Some pointed to the fact that this comes close on the heels of new guidelines that don’t allow extra loading, effective October. Sooner or later, all companies would have to comply with this. Currently, health insurers such as ICICI Lombard, Apollo Munich and Bajaj Allianz cover diabetes and hypertension as pre-existing diseases (after a waiting period). New India Assurance would have a four-year waiting period for a cover on the two diseases.http://www.myallagents.com/Comprehensive-health-plans-better-for-specific-diseases/details.html

Five inbuilt free or cheap insurance covers

Some products and services have insurance covers most buyers don't know about. The best part is, usually, these are free or quite cheap. For example, there are covers given along with liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinders, up to a whopping Rs 40 lakh in case of loss of life or damage to property due to cylinder explosions. Though there are a number of LPG cylinder explosions, causing loss to life and property, no one seems to be aware of an insurance cover available for LPG consumers in such cases.http://www.myallagents.com/Five-inbuilt-free-or-cheap-insurance-covers/details.html

Liberty Videocon General Insurance Company To Achieve Its Biggest Target

Roopam Asthana, Chief Executive Officer at Liberty Videocon General Insurance Company, today declared the company’s performance report for the ongoing year 2013 - 14. He said that till now the company has successfully achieved a sales figure of Rs. 65 crores as against the budget of Rs. 120 crores for the entire year. The Company is also optimistic about the business for the remaining part of the year and expects to meet the budgeted amount of sales.  http://www.myallagents.com/Liberty-Videocon-General-Insurance-Company-To-Achieve-Its-Biggest-Target/details.html

Shriram Life launches seven new products

According to Manoj Jain, CEO Shriram Life, out of the seven plans, four products are market-linked and the remaining are traditional products. 
"The new products are more customer friendly giving better value proposition in terms of higher surrender values and better death benefits," Jain told reporters here, adding that the new products are in compliance with new guidelines issued by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority. http://www.myallagents.com/Shriram-Life-launches-seven-new-products/details.html 

LIC sells shares worth Rs 8,800 cr in 17 Sensex companies

State-run insurance giant LIC has lowered its exposure in 17 blue-chip firms, with sale of shares worth an estimated amount of over Rs 8,800 crore, in the quarter ended March 31, 2013. Life Insurance Corporation of India's holding increased in nine Sensex companies during the January-March 2013 quarter, showed an analysis of the shareholding pattern of Sensex constituents.http://www.myallagents.com/LIC-sells-shares-worth-Rs-8800-cr-in-17-Sensex-companies/details.html

Irda plans new norms for micro insurance

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irda) will issue new guidelines for the micro-insurance sector within this financial year. Irda had asked insurance firms to design up to four-five new micro-insurance products, which will be cost-effective, and at the same time provide better returns to investors, said Sudhin Roy Chowdhury, member (life) at a seminar on the insurance sector here on Friday.  http://www.myallagents.com/Irda-plans-new-norms-for-micro-insurance/details.html

Travel insurance: Handy during natural calamities

After any kind of natural calamity, insurance companies usually get jittery on the huge amount of claims they may have to pay. But following the recent floods in Uttarakhand, in which thousands lost their lives, general insurance companies have hardly seen any claims related to medical emergencies. This is because Indians don't believe in taking travel insurance, especially if they are travelling within the country. Even when travelling overseas, most Indian travellers take insurance only if it is mandatory. 
www.myallagents.com/Travel-insurance-Handy-during-natural-calamities/details.html

Need to wait and watch, if banks want to become brokers: Insurers

While the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irda) has allowed banks to become insurance brokers, insurance companies said it still needed to be seen whether this would happen. “It is a positive step, especially for non-bank led companies, since it has been pending for a long time. However, we will have to see, over a period of time, if banks would be interested, and whether RBI would approve. Only after this, would we see an open architecture of bancassurance,” said Deepak Mittal, managing director & chief executive officer, Edelweiss Tokio Life Insurance.  http://www.myallagents.com/Need-to-wait-and-watch-if-banks-want-to-become-brokers-Insurers/details.htm

Ways to get more from your health insurance

If you have been running from pillar to post to make your health insurance claims, you must be heaving a sigh of relief. The new health insurance regulations, effective from October this year, have made it easier for policyholders to claim for expenses which arise from hospitalisation or treatment. To top it, insurance companies are going out of the way to make the claims process simple and easy for individuals with minimum documentation and a quicker turn-around time.  ttp://www.myallagents.com/Ways-to-get-more-from-your-health-insurance/details.html

Now, get your term cover benefit in installments

MUMBAI: Increased affordability has resulted in average sum insured under online terminsurance jumping to Rs 70 lakh. With competition and absence of distribution costs bringing down the price of online term insurance to a third of similar policies sold through agents, companies are now innovating on what was a plain vanilla death benefit plan.  
 http://www.myallagents.com/Now-get-your-term-cover-benefit-in-installments/details.html