Aegon Religare Life Insurance Company has decided to launch at least one innovative product every year. In line with this thinking, the company recently launched an exclusive online ULIP with innovative features, said Mr Rajiv Jamkhedkar, CEO, Aegon Religare Life Insurance.

The initial response from customers is good, he said. “We have collected 12 crore as premium in very short period. There is zero premium allocation charge. It's very simple to go through and it was well received in the market,” said Mr Rajiv.

Asked about the customer behaviour in buying online term insurance compared to offline, he said “We were surprised when we launched the online term insurance. The average sum assured on online is higher by 8-10 times when compared to the offline products. I think the big difference is in the marketing of the product. What a direct online product has done is that customer eventually becomes aware of the right coverage. They themselves calculate the sum assured using our site and buy directly. But it's currently happening from large cities, high income groups and financially literate customers.”

What per cent of sales is likely to come through online for insurers? Mr Rajiv replies, “For us its 10 per cent and at best it will be 20 per cent of our overall sales. The limitation here is that customer still wants to consult the agent or advisor before buying insurance products. People are still not comfortable going online and getting information without checking with anybody.”

To a question on how many of his customers are buying riders with the products, Mr Jamkhedhar said, “I don't have exact numbers but it will be 15-18 per cent. The awareness of the customers on riders is low. We would like to tell every customer that which ever policies you buy just see what riders are offered and consider three or four important riders such as critical illness, accident and disability and waiver of premium. Riders are like extended warranty.”

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