Private insurer Max New York Life Insurance plans to launch about eight products this year, mainly in the traditional category, with a few slated for the coming weeks.
“We have shifted our portfolio to long-term savings and protection, and all our products have been rejigged,” Mr V. Viswanand, Director and Head — Products and Persistency Management, Max New York Life Insurance, told Business Line . IRDA's new guidelines for unit-linked products (ULIPs) came into effect last September, and insurance companies have had to re-look their offerings.
Of the new product launches from Max New York Life Insurance, two would be ULIPs and the rest, traditional, Mr Viswanand said. The company has four ULIPs and 18 traditional products, and wants to grow the latter to 65 per cent of its product mix, he added.
In the new regulatory environment, the company has seen 10 per cent growth between September 2010 and January 2011, he said, adding it had been achieved on the back of 25 per cent cost savings.
“We have embarked on an aggressive cost-management agenda, and are only focusing on sales and service-related costs,” he said. Any expense that did not enhance sales, productivity or service was pruned, he said, “which helped us cut down costs by 25 per cent in 6-8 months”.
The company's new sales also grew 6 per cent in 2010 to Rs 1,967 crore. This, he said, was above the industry average for private insurers.
Renewal premium in 2010 was Rs 3,536 crore, and Mr Viswanand expected it to grow 27 per cent to Rs 4,000 crore in 2011.