The Hindu Business Line : SBI Life targetting Rs 1,300-cr business

SBI Life Insurance Co Ltd has set a marketing target of Rs 1,300 crore for its various products in the current fiscal. Of this, Rs 1,000 crore will be through bancassurance, Mr S. Krishnamurthy, Managing Director, SBI Life, has said.

At present, 60 per cent of the products of SBI Life have been marketed through bancassurance and the company intends to raise it to 70 per cent considering the vast potential in the insurance market, he said.

Mr Krishnamurthy, who was here in connection with the observance of bancassurance month of State Bank of Travancore, told reporters that the company had garnered a premium of Rs 70 crore in the first quarter ended June by insuring more than two lakh lives. It had achieved a premium income of Rs 225 crore in 2003-04 as compared with Rs 63 crore during 2002-03. SBI Life has garnered a premium of around Rs 370 crore since its inception, he added.

In Kerala, SBI Life has two offices in Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram and plans are afoot to open another office at Kozhikode, he said.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr G. Rama Mohana Rao, General Manager (Operations), SBT, said the bank had covered nearly 8,000 lives securing premium amounting to Rs 5 crore during the first four months of the current fiscal from its various branches. The total sum assured amounts to Rs 168 crore.

The bank is confident that it can garner a substantial market share, especially in view of its wide network of branches in Kerala.