BSFL & Royal Sundaram launch online sale of health insurance product at Common Service Centers

Bhartiya Samruddhi Finance Limited (BSFL), the Flagship Company of the BASIX Social Enterprise Group and Royal Sundaram Alliance Insurance Company Limited, pioneered in launching a web enabled solution at the Common Service Centres (CSCs) of BSFL that will enable the rural customers to receive the policy document of health insurance product instantly.

The objective of this technological advancement is to provide customer convenience and ease, and encourage better adoption of insurance products in the rural areas. This initiative to offer Rural Insurance Products through the internet connected computers is the first of its kind in India.

CSC are outlets with a computer connected to the various departments of the state government and to businesses. The former provides Government to Citizen (G2C) services and the latter B2C services. BSFL runs over 3000 such outlets in five states.

Health insurance penetration is less than 5% of the population of India and it is even less in rural India. Recent NSSO data (60th round) indicates that major Consumption Expenditure is on Health: 13% in Rural and 10% in Urban.

Vijay Mahajan, Founder and CEO, BASIX Social Enterprise Group said, “Studies show that as many as a third of all households who have had a family member hospitalized, fall into poverty. Thus health is an important pre-requisite of economic well-being. By offering hospitalization insurance more widely, BSFL and RSA are doing their bit to improve the lives of the poor. “

Ajay Bimbhet, Managing Director, Royal Sundaram said, “Rural India has been at par with the urban populace in adapting to the latest in technology which is a progressive step. Secondly, the awareness of insurance in rural scenario is increasing along with the urban. BASIX with their acumen of rural India has been the significant contributor of our rural commitment. Together, we have come a long way in our products, services and deliveries to customers. With this technological progress, we aim to provide them the privilege of availing policies instantly.  Going forward we would like to extend the online sale and service to our customers in the rural area in respect of  all other GI products as well.”

Product & Process

Rural Hospital Cash, the most popular rural health insurance product, is now available for online sale at the CSCs. Rural Hospital Cash is a benefit policy that supports customers in meeting the expensive health related expenses.

The VLE (Village Level Entrepreneur) manning the CSC outlet will offer this service as part of financial inclusion, in addition to already existing B2C and G2C services. VLE will explain the details of the policy along with terms and conditions in the vernacular language. Since BSFL CSC portal and Royal Sundaram server are integrated fully, the policy document will be generated online on the spot. Both companies are in the process of making all the general insurance products available online through the CSC network.

• The First In India to Offer Rural Insurance Product online at CSCs
• The service is launched through a wide network of 650 CSCs in 5 districts of Maharashtra – Nasik, Nandurbar, Dhule, Jalgaon & Ahmednagar