Increase of General Insurance penetration in the next decade of innovative technic channels of insurance products

Since the era after nationalization, 1972, General Insurance Corporation (GIC) (amalgamation of 4 subsidiaries:- The New India Assurance Company Limited, The National Insurance Company, The Oriental Insurance and The United India Insurance) subsequently GIPSA (General Insurance Public Sectors Association) have been prevailing with the noble aim of serving the nation of our country under the control of Government of India.

Over 38 years, GIC have built up an immense resource of good will and glory with an enviable Corporate image by the dedicated service and its social commitment, through various innovative schemed products.

The GIPSA plays a momentous role in economic advancement of India in this modern civilization. General Insurance other than Life Insurance is constituted to design protective measures and preventive steps against the occurrence of unpleasant incidents and mishaps originating huge damage to lives and properties etc. The foundation of GIPSA is based on premium reserve subsequently Capital Reserve, wherefrom huge amount of money is invested in different government projects.

The Government of India has an important involvement in investing huge crores of premium earned from General Insurance for Industrialization, Agriculture and Government Security Bonds etc. The GIPSA Authority have designed various congenial policy products to market with a certain offer of stipulated quantum of premium for providing financial assistance in case of disasters.

Another Independent Body “IRDA” (Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority) is to regulate the existing premium advised by TAC (Tariff Advisory Committee. Now the questions arise how many people know the General Insurance and agree with the prevailing quantum of applicable insurance premium as per tariff scheduled by TAC? Still in our country,

General Insurance, to the common people, is not so essential in their lifestyle, as because it is an innate nature of human being to justify the monetary involvement and its return in investing money for different product of suitable policies. This is very real truth that insurance-conscious people are very few. Even the actual notion about Insurance is not properly clear to them.

Why insurance comes in our lives? General Insurance is a great source of reliance and an assurance of financial certitude on premonition of unknown sudden distress causing dreadful loss. But in this changing and challenging business trend, it is quite impossible to anticipate how long General Insurance business will remain in existence in this modern insurance panorama.

So let us see, how much GIPSA appeal to the heart of the insured and also in what way GIC induce people towards General Insurance? So now, this is very much essential to gather insurance awareness with a view to implement preparatory access to all kind of general people of sound mind and health for insurance motivation of being familiar with policy product and its effective impact on every insured. All business houses, general public have to face natural calamities and other unfortunate incidents.

So, obviously General Insurance is a right step for monetary assistance as well as dependability for the sake of economic restoration at disaster. Each insured family can realize the financial expediency in inexistence of insured. General Insurance stands for a sense of responsibility, it is empirical and it assures security and abates risks to a great extent.

Health insurance policy is a very good scheme for Income Tax exemption for Mediclaim Policy Holder, as a great privilege. The GIPSA is playing a significant role in providing huge source of capital for Housing, Electricity, Steel Plants, Water Supply, Agriculture, National Highways, Port, Bridge and Railways.

The other enormous amount of capital is invested in Government Securities (Central and State both). But the lion’s share of GIPSA’s capital reserve is kept for financial exigency to meet huge claim settlement. But owing to current political environment and Government policy and side by side other private insurance sector’s daring competitive business existence, General Insurance business of innovative products with modern technology is on the wane.

As a matter of fact a sale of insurance products can never impress insured permanently without consideration of customer’s psychological aspect. First of all a policy buyer will find the object of the policy and its fulfillment of their purpose of whether terms and conditions are perspicuous as well as to their likings, if they have to pay insurance premium.

The obscurity in policy contents and language in English is one of the reason of backing up of General Insurance in our country. Language difficulty is a big phenomenon. So the Regional language is a great privilege to go through the contents of policy and a positive response to insurance-need consciousness as well.

Now the question comes in mind how to retrieve General Insurance? So, today, this is a burning question that why the General Insurance business is lagging and what are the reasons behind owing to which premium income is at a low ebb.

As a result, a dreadful impact on public insurance sectors is alarmingly seen where employment is insecure. And also the redressal and reformation of claim settlement technique is very much urgent to expedite the claim settlement process under scientific original paper scrutiny for the sake of prompt and impeccable customer service.

Since Insurance business is premium oriented, so reasonable computation of best and lowest premium, is a great advantage to impress all insurance customers in this challenging insurance world. It is a survival issue of Public Insurance  Sectors, the theory of Determinism and Risk management Tools are source of customer’s discontentment and suppressed anger.

This method and technique do not satisfy customers’ basic right to legitimate compensation, where their choice is ignored, resulting in exasperation and as such, court matter arise. Best sensible underwriting is an another scientific technique of loss prevention.

Now the most modern and excellent theory of best customer service is Advanced Communication with all clients. Regional language is very sensitive medium to impress insurance buyers, to go through the significance of doing insurance for emergency fulfillment, to save insures’ future. It is very natural that every client likes to be impressed but not imposed ever by innovative policy conditions to conduce to divulge true fact and status, during filling up of proposal form.

Proper declaration of client is a great advantage to avoid future complications. It is a matter of an important aspect to study, since the conventional policy design, do not justify the real need and attitude, where customers satisfaction is essentially associated. Therefore, the present market situation needs an effective personable communicative sales group of trained personnel for frequent customer visit to fulfill clients’ insurable interest, demand and an honest approach in quest of escalating premium income.

The responsible attitude of sales (communicative) persons will be to impress policy buyers to imbibe the need of valuable insurance, by extending hands of sincere assurance of legitimate co-operation. Another media of communication is Television that can attract insurance viewers audio-visually through the issues various channels.

Hoarding is also another psychological media for prompt and positive impact on mind and this media can familiarize innovative insurance policy products, so long unknown to many. This way the whole people with their families will learn to cherish General Insurance for their own better lifestyle with intense happiness. As a consequence, all will be capable to feel the indispensability of Non Life Insurance.

A candid confession of true fact and mental state is so much to come into consideration in presence of communicative sales personalities. But clients’ caprice is never expected for claim finalization and the notion about a responsible customer will have positive impact on reasonability of fair claim justification. Introduction of new formula of NCB (No-Claim Bonanza) for every consecutive “Three Claim Free Years” in case of Motor (comprehensive) policy, Mediclaim and P.A. Policy, can inspire all clients to come ahead smilingly to be familiar with the basic need of innovative product.

Therefore, welcome GIPSA, IRDA & TAC and let us down to business profitability with an obsecrations to the honourable GIPSA to reshuffle entire infrastructure, regarding existing policy pattern and premium structure for the best access within the purview of insurance patrons’ aspiration. TPA’s involvement is nothing but an unnecessary harassment and misutilisation of management expense where all GIPSA employees are quite enough to present best effort and dedicated service for customers’ satisfaction.

In conclusion it is highly felt that General Insurance is a crying need for self dependence as well for self confidence. Best rendering of customer service is the biggest gateway and greatest source of permeation (penetration) of irresistible General Insurance in the next decade.

By: Ashis Kumar Das, The New India Assurance Co. Ltd., Kolkata, Published in The Insurance Times, May, 2011