Encouraged by the success of its online term plan ‘Metlife Mera Term Plan’, PNB MetLife India Insurance (PNB MetLife) on Thursday said it plans to invest more in the online channel and strengthen its portfolio of online insurance solutions.
“This (online channel) is one area where we want to invest more. Our learnings from online will also help us sell more offline,” Tarun Chugh, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, told BusinessLine .
In about a year since its launch (in August 2015), about 10,500 ‘Mera Term’ policies involving total sum assured of ₹10,000 crore have been sold, Chugh said.
The life insurer also plans to launch more online offerings around health insurance and these will also be benefit-based products (not indemnity-based), he said.
Last year, PNB MetLife had forayed into health insurance with the launch of a unique product covering 35 critical illnesses for a period of 10 years.
An important feature of this product, MetLife Major Illness Premium Back Cover (MMIPBC), is that the insurer stands to get back the premium if he/she doesn’t fall ill. The life insurer had used MMIPC to spearhead its online channel sales.
E-branchChugh also said that the company recently provided its sales force with 1,000 Tablets to assist them in the need-based selling of policies.
“We see every Tablet becoming a branch in itself. This will complement our current 128 company and 7,000-plus partner branches,” Chugh said.
Adoption of Tablets is expected to aid in faster assisted sales.
PNB MetLife is now looking to close the current fiscal with a persistency level of 73-75 per cent, double the level attained in 2013. “Our aim is to be among the top three (in the industry) on the persistency front,” Chugh added.
This life insurer will also focus its energies on growing its “protection” business, aiming to double its share in the overall portfolio to 20 per cent from the current 10 per cent.
Capital raisingChugh ruled out any plans to raising capital in the next two years to fund business growth. “We are comfortably placed on the capital front. Our solvency ratio is at 221 per cent,” he said.