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Max Bupa Health Insurance Company Ltd (Max Bupa) plans to launch a travel insurance product by the end of this year, its Chief Executive, Dr Damien Marmion, has said.
Travel insurance is a natural fit for a health insurer such as Max Bupa, as a significant share (60 per cent) of the claims in such products the world over comes for health reasons, Dr Marmion pointed out. Max Bupa is looking to offer only an international travel insurance product and not one for domestic travel. It will sell its travel insurance online, he said.
Products
The company currently has six products in its portfolio and at least six more are in the pipeline, including one for critical illness. This standalone health insurer, which has just completed two years of business operations, is looking to break even by 2015, he added.
Dr Marmion reiterated that Bupa is not averse to increasing its stake in this joint venture from the existing 26 per cent to 49 per cent if the foreign investment limit were to be hiked.
Stake limit
“The current limit of 26 per cent is not an impediment. Bupa would love to be 49 per cent or even 100 per cent. This market has so many positive areas and India needs high-quality health insurance. So why not?”
Currently, the foreign investment limit in insurance sector is capped at 26 per cent.
Max Bupa, which started with an initial capital of Rs 150 crore, now has paid-up capital of about Rs 350 crore. There are plans to ramp this up to Rs 700 crore in the next few years. This standalone health insurer has so far covered 2,30,000 lives and is aiming to achieve 2 million lives by end December 2014.
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