Aviva India Life Insurance (Aviva India) is eyeing entry into the top 10 industry league and wants to be one of the top life insurance players in the country, a top official said.

“We expect to move up the league table. We want to be in the game. We want to be one of the top players in India. Of course, we are not happy being at the bottom (21).

“Why should anybody be happy being at the bottom, especially given the pedigree of Dabur and Aviva Group as our shareholders,” Trevor Bull, Managing Director and CEO, Aviva India, told BusinessLine .

He said that Aviva India wants to enter the top 10 league at the earliest, but at the same time noted that it would like to do so by continuing to treat customers “fairly and properly”.

“Our being the No 1 most trusted life insurance company for two years running is as important as leaping the league table. Trust and lowest complaints – if we get these two right – we will go up the league table. Our target is more on customer outcomes than premium results. We expect the focus on customer outcomes to give us results in the league table,” said Bull.

Going forward, Aviva India will focus on three areas — improving the customers’ ease of doing business with the company, be transparent and reliable; leveraging data and analytics to personalise offerings for customers; and achieving growth through product innovation and expanded propositions.

He also said that Aviva India was growing at 30 per cent in the just-ended second quarter, much above the private industry growth levels. “We need to just build on this momentum to scale up into the higher levels in the league table,” he said.

Bull’s remarks on Aviva India’s approach to organic growth and customer-centricity are significant as they come close on the heels of Aviva Group CEO Maurice Tulloch’s newly-announced global purpose and strategy.

The new strategy for Aviva Group revolves around delivering Aviva as a company that is simpler, both internally and externally; stronger, at operational execution; and better at rewarding shareholders with sustainable growing returns.

FDI limit

Bull also said that Aviva Group would be open to raising its stake in the Indian joint venture unit (Aviva India) if the government raises the Foreign Direct Investment limit in the upcoming Budget to 74 per cent from the current 49 per cent. “I think Aviva will jump into it if the opportunity arises. Aviva was the first off the block to execute that increase when FDI limit was raised to 49 per cent. Aviva Group will be very interested on it,” he said.

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