Max New York Life Insurance has reported an impressive set of numbers for FY10-11. Profit after tax has increased to Rs 283 crores from a low Rs 24 crores in the last fiscal. This growth is especially impressive given the new ULIP regulations that came into force from 1st Sep, 2010. However it would be interesting to see if they can carry forward with the same momentum in profits in the current year, given the new tighter regulations.
Max New York Life recorded a total premium collection of Rs 5800 crores. New business premium was Rs 2050 crores while renewal premium was Rs 3750 crores. The total assets under management of the company is Rs 13800 crores.
Max has mostly traditional ( non ULIP products) under their portfolio which is why they have been affected less by the new regulations. Also the fact that they have the Bancassurance relationship with Axis Bank well established will provide them additional fuel for their growth.
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Sunday, May 15, 2011
ICICI Lombard Group Travel Insurance to Air India Express customers
ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company has entered into a deal with Air India Express to provide travel insurance to the domestic and international passengers flying with Air India Express.
Travellers flying Air India Express can now avail of the discounted group insurance rates that ICICI Lombard has offered to Air India Express. Expenses arising out of flight cancellations, lost luggage, trip delays,loss of luggage, loss of passport etc is covered under a 15 day policy from the date of travel. The interesting bit here is that NON-PLANNED hospitalisation is also covered even though the disease might have been pre-existing. This is the risky element for the insurer as we have heard of certain cases where the insured does a planned hospitalisation in specialised hospitals in Western Europe and US and tries to pass off the expenses as a non-planned emergency hospitalisation.
While every risk can be priced, let us hope that travel insurance for Air India Express passengers is not a sure event, given the recent history of cancelled flights of Air India and its sister concerns!
Travellers flying Air India Express can now avail of the discounted group insurance rates that ICICI Lombard has offered to Air India Express. Expenses arising out of flight cancellations, lost luggage, trip delays,loss of luggage, loss of passport etc is covered under a 15 day policy from the date of travel. The interesting bit here is that NON-PLANNED hospitalisation is also covered even though the disease might have been pre-existing. This is the risky element for the insurer as we have heard of certain cases where the insured does a planned hospitalisation in specialised hospitals in Western Europe and US and tries to pass off the expenses as a non-planned emergency hospitalisation.
While every risk can be priced, let us hope that travel insurance for Air India Express passengers is not a sure event, given the recent history of cancelled flights of Air India and its sister concerns!
Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana running into issues
Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY), which is the health insurance scheme for the Below Poverty Line (BPL) families in India is running into issues due to delay in payment of premiums by the Government and the delay in claims processing by the Health Insurance companies.
The salient features of RSBY are:
1. It aims to provide health coverage to BPL families who cannot afford to pay for health related expenditures. It is a nationwide scheme.
2.It has been rolled out by the Ministry of Labour. Each beneficiary is entitled to a health insurance coverage of Rs 30,000. It is effectively free for the policyholder with them needing to pay only Rs 30 to get enrolled in the scheme
3. There is no age limit and most pre existing diseases are covered
4. 25% of the health insurance premium is paid by the State Government and and 75% of the health insurance premium is paid by the Central Government
5. The policyholder has a choice of public or private hospitals. SmartCards are issued to the policyholder and the smartcard can be used in any RSBY empanelled hospital in the country. In that sense, there is no locational constraint.
6. The policyholder is entitled to cashless claims
5. 2.5 crore smart cards have been issued across 25 states
But of late, the government and the insurers have started pointing fingers at each other regarding premium payment and health claims payment. Rs 225 crores worth of premium which has to be paid by the State Government is now pending. The Central Govt has cleared its part of the premium payment obligation. Because the take up rate of the scheme has increased very rapidly, state governments have been struggling to keep up with their obligation towards the premium payment.
On the other hand, the government has expressed concern at the high level of claims pending with the insurers. While there has definitely been a great deal of fraudulent claims, the pending claims ratio is still way too high. The four public health insurers are yet to settle 50% of the claims. ICICI Lombard has 35% claims pending while Tata AIG has 28% claims outstanding.Mr Anil Swarup, joint secretary in the Labour ministry, has gone on record saying that the four nationalised general insurance companies have been very slow in the processing of health insurance related claims under RSBY.The official guideline in RSBY is that claims have to be settled under 21 days.The private insurance companies and the 4 public general insurance companies have exactly 50% market share under RSBY.
The salient features of RSBY are:
1. It aims to provide health coverage to BPL families who cannot afford to pay for health related expenditures. It is a nationwide scheme.
2.It has been rolled out by the Ministry of Labour. Each beneficiary is entitled to a health insurance coverage of Rs 30,000. It is effectively free for the policyholder with them needing to pay only Rs 30 to get enrolled in the scheme
3. There is no age limit and most pre existing diseases are covered
4. 25% of the health insurance premium is paid by the State Government and and 75% of the health insurance premium is paid by the Central Government
5. The policyholder has a choice of public or private hospitals. SmartCards are issued to the policyholder and the smartcard can be used in any RSBY empanelled hospital in the country. In that sense, there is no locational constraint.
6. The policyholder is entitled to cashless claims
5. 2.5 crore smart cards have been issued across 25 states
But of late, the government and the insurers have started pointing fingers at each other regarding premium payment and health claims payment. Rs 225 crores worth of premium which has to be paid by the State Government is now pending. The Central Govt has cleared its part of the premium payment obligation. Because the take up rate of the scheme has increased very rapidly, state governments have been struggling to keep up with their obligation towards the premium payment.
On the other hand, the government has expressed concern at the high level of claims pending with the insurers. While there has definitely been a great deal of fraudulent claims, the pending claims ratio is still way too high. The four public health insurers are yet to settle 50% of the claims. ICICI Lombard has 35% claims pending while Tata AIG has 28% claims outstanding.Mr Anil Swarup, joint secretary in the Labour ministry, has gone on record saying that the four nationalised general insurance companies have been very slow in the processing of health insurance related claims under RSBY.The official guideline in RSBY is that claims have to be settled under 21 days.The private insurance companies and the 4 public general insurance companies have exactly 50% market share under RSBY.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
IndiaFirst Life to infuse Rs 120 crores of Capital
Indiafirst Life, a relatively new entrant into the life insurance space in India, has announced its plans of infusing another Rs 120 crore of capital into its business, taking the total paid up equity capital to Rs 550 crores. A JV between Legal and General, Andhra Bank and Bank of Baroda, IndiaFirst Life generated Rs 900 crores of premium in the first 500 days of its operation. Led by the redoubtable Dr NandaGopal and blessed with a strong distribution in the south and west due to its parents, IndiaFirst is poised for impressive growth. It has announced aggressive plans for expansion in Chennai and is in the process of setting up an extensive agency force.
It is headed by P Nandagopal, an industry veteran who was earlier the distribution head of Birla Sun Life and the CEO of Reliance Life. The team draws heavily from the Reliance Life team, and it would be interesting to follow the progress made by this company in the coming months and years.
It is headed by P Nandagopal, an industry veteran who was earlier the distribution head of Birla Sun Life and the CEO of Reliance Life. The team draws heavily from the Reliance Life team, and it would be interesting to follow the progress made by this company in the coming months and years.
Delhi High Court questions HIV/AIDS exclusions from Health Insurance
In response to a petition filed, the Delhi High Court has questioned IRDA and the Health Ministry as to why Health Insurance policies have an exclusion for HIV/ AIDS. Most insurance contracts have a clause in the health insurance policy documents which states that the policy does not cover treatment for HIV/AIDS even if the policyholder might have contracted it at a far later stage than when he (s) got admitted into the policy. In the view of the court, this tantamounts to a discrimination in a country which has the third largest number (24 lakhs) of HIV infected people in the world. If the insurance companies need to cover HIV/AIDS as a part of the standard list of ailments that are covered, one might see a little increase in health insurance premiums. One however tends to agree that there is no basis to discriminate against HIV/AIDS patients and not provide them an insurance cover.
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