IndiaFirst launches micro-insurance plan

RM Vishakha, Managing Director and CEO, IndiaFirst Life IndiaFirst Life Insurance has launched an unique micro-insurance plan, ‘insurance katha’, targeted at those in the informal sector and agricultural labourers with seasonal incomes. This plan will be distributed exclusively through the 2.4 lakh common service centres (CSCs) across the country, RM Vishakha, Managing Director and CEO, IndiaFirst Life, said at a launch event. Alphons Kannanthanam, Minister of State for Electronics & IT, was present on the occasion. The ‘novelty’ of the new microinsurance plan is that it provides individuals the flexibility to pay premium in parts, as and when possible, the company said. “At an individual platform with an entry-level minimum premium of Rs.500, this is the first-of-its-kind product in the industry,” Vishakha told. Taking into account possibilities of monetary limitations of the target segment, the plan is designed to return the paid premium amount at the end of the term, while ensuring life insurance coverage, during the term. “It is not a high-margin product for us. We have kept the cost of servicing at a bare minimum,” Vishakha said. “For customers, it is a plan where you can keep on increasing the sum insured you had paid and keep on getting back the premium you paid as and when they mature. We offer three options – five, seven and 10 years tenures and five, seven and 10 times of premium paid as sum insured,” Vishakha said.