• Investment World
• eWorld
• Brand Line
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest
• The New Manager

Stocks

• Quotes
• SE Diary
• Scoreboard
• Open-End Mutual Fund

Cross Currency

• Rates
  
  

Shipping

• Ports
  
  

Archives

• Yesterday
• Datewise
• Resources
• In Focus
• In Depth

Group Sites

• The Hindu
• The Hindu ePaper
• Business Line
• Business Line ePaper
• Sportstar
• Frontline
• The Hindu eBooks
• The Hindu Images

Radhika Menon

Advertisement

Mumbai Feb. 25 Indian life insurance agents are now among the richest in the world. India now figures among the top 10 countries in terms of membership of the Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT) — an exclusive club for the highest performing life insurance agents.

For production goals achieved in 2006, India ranks sixth with 1,145 members in the elite club. In 2005, there were just around 682 members.

The top five countries on MDRT's list include USA (14,695 members), South Korea (5,687), Japan (3,633), Taiwan (2350) and Hong Kong (1728). India has, however, eclipsed countries such as Canada, Malaysia, Singapore and China to break into the top 10. Globally, MDRT has 36,000 members.

Bagging an MDRT membership is no mean task. An Indian agent has to earn a minimum commission of Rs 5.98 lakh or rake in premium of Rs 23.92 lakh to register as a member of MDRT.

For the title of Court of the Table and Top of the Table, the minimum requirements are higher at Rs 17.94 lakh and Rs 35.88 lakh in terms of commission and premium of Rs 71.77 lakh and Rs 1.43 crore respectively.

In 2006, the private sector seems to have overtaken LIC. HDFC Standard Life and ICICI Prudential have the highest number of MDRT members at 273 and 258 respectively followed by LIC at 239. In 2005, LIC had dominated with 207 members (of a total of 682 members).

Mr R.K. Shetty, three times Top of the Table at MDRT, said that private players are attaching a lot of value to an MDRT membership. Mr Binayak Dutta, Chief-Sales and Distribution, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, said the MDRT membership is valued because its helps insurance advisors build credibility with their customers, learn new skills and also use the MDRT logo.

They can also network with other high performing insurance agents across the world and share experiences.

However, the number of registered members still trails those who have qualified. Mr Shetty estimates that around 4,000 members would have qualified for MDRT while only 1,145 members actually registered.

A high registration fee ($450) and low awareness are key stumbling blocks to membership. Some companies, however, sponsor a few of their top agents by paying the membership fees and sponsoring the trip to the US to attend the MDRT convention.

More Stories on : Life Insurance | Financial Services

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Waiting for Godot?

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line