The Hindu Business Line : ICICI PruLife expects 120 pc growth in business

ICICI Prudential Life Insurance is expecting a 120 per cent growth in business during the current financial year, according to Ms Shikha Sharma, CEO and MD, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance.

The company has already garnered a new business premium of Rs 498 crore during the first half year ended September 30 and the growth rate is expected to maintain throughout the year, she told reporters here on Monday.

It had sold over 1 million policies on a total sum assured of over Rs 23,000 crore.

Ms Sharma was speaking to reporters to announce the Rs 10-crore premium achieved by its key corporate agent Emgee Muthoot, the insurance division of the Kerala-based Muthoot Group.

She said that Kerala contributes 10 per cent of its national business.

Emgee Muthoot is one of the most successful corporate agents for ICICI Prudential and has been one of the frontrunners in the company's Partner programme, an initiative to strengthen relationship with key partners, she added.

According to Ms Sharma, there is a huge potential in the insurance market still waiting to be tapped.

Currently, the insurance penetration in India is only 2.2 per cent of the GDP, while it is 6 per cent to 8 per cent in developed countries. She said that the company has a network of about 40,000 advisors as well as seven bancassurance tie-ups.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr George Alexander Muthoot, Managing Director, Muthoot Group, said that the group's move towards a branch model of distribution in mid 2003 served as a catalyst for the company's life insurance foray.