After the successful launch of its comprehensive health insurance plan, L&T General Insurance, which began operations in 2010, plans to launch customised products for the small and medium enterprises in the coming year.

Joydeep Roy, CEO and whole-time Director, L&T General Insurance, spoke to Business Line on the latest guidelines for the industry and the company’s upcoming launches.

Excerpts from interview:

What new products will the company launch this year?

This year we will launch an affordable health insurance product, an innovative home insurance product and customised insurance products for small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

What sets you apart from competition?

We have invested heavily in an end-to-end IT solutions platform.

We have a great degree of automation for processes such as policy issuance, data management, underwriting, document management, storage, claims, reinsurance, financial accounting.

It’s built into one whole ecosystem that is customised as per our needs.

How will the recent guidelines on standardisation of health insurance impact the industry?

Standardisation and portability of insurance policies augur well for the health insurance industry.

It will encourage more people to take health cover.

Consumers don’t understand policy jargon such as critical illness, what is covered/not covered by the policy, and so on.

Health insurance portability, where consumers can move from company to company, and policy standardisation will bring in transparency for customers and reduce claim- and policy-related issues while porting.

What are your views on the listing guidelines?

It is difficult to value companies on the embedded value parameter as general insurance is a transient business whereas life insurance policies are long-term contracts, where the policyholder pays premiums regularly, which can help determine the embedded value of the company.

In general insurance, policies are renewed annually so valuation will have to be done in the traditional cash-flow basis.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/banking/health-insurance-portability-standardisation-will-bring-in-transparency/article4382864.ece?ref=wl_industry-and-economy