The Hindu Business Line : ICICI Pru goes rural with micro offices, biometric cards

Mangalore, Feb. 14 Which is the best way to take life insurance into rural areas? ICICI Prudential Life Insurance seems to believe in a mix of biometric smart cards and micro offices to reach this market.

While the company is planning to reach more rural customers through the establishment of micro offices, it is also aiming at the government-sponsored e-initiatives in various States to increase the use of biometric cards in rural areas.

Ms Anita Pai, Executive Vice-President (Customer Service and Technology), ICICI Prudential Life Insurance — who was in Mangalore recently — told Business Line that the company will have a presence in rural areas with more micro offices and boost the confidence of customers.

“As life insurance is a long-term issue, it is important to be seen,” she said.

Of the nearly 750 branches of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance in the country, nearly 250 are in rural areas.

Called as micro offices, these 250 branches are situated in Punjab, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and West Bengal.

“By the end of the fiscal, we are planning to increase the number of micro offices to around 350-400,” Ms Pai said.

Asked about the reasons for concentrating the micro offices in a few States, she said: “There is no point in launching it in every State with five to 10 branches. Therefore, we selected some States to do it in first phase. We picked up five States with around 50 branches in each of these States.”

BIOMETRIC CARDS

Ms Pai said that the company recently introduced biometric smart cards for its rural customers in a few States. With these cards, the policy-holders can carry all policy details without any papers and store transaction details.

“A rural customer does not have to go to the branch situated in a distant place. He can go to the nearest FINO (Financial Information Networks Operation) Fintech access points, where the customer can swipe the card, authenticate himself,” she said.

This was launched around three months ago in some places in Punjab and Andhra Pradesh. At present, around 50 FINO Fintech points are available for the transaction.

To make better use of the biometric cards, the company is planning to take the benefit of government-sponsored e-initiatives like ‘AP Online’ in Andhra Pradesh and ‘e-mitra’ in Rajasthan. The insurer plans to use such e-initiatives in other States also.

The main aim is to leverage the strengths of the Government-sponsored e-initiatives. Customers use such kiosks to pay utility bills, to get copies of land records, birth certificates and so on, she said.

“We want to cover every rural customer with biometric card. It may not be possible in six months or one year. In about one-and-half or two years time we will cover old customers under this,” Ms Pai added.

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