Bajaj Allianz looking to extend health cover to BPL households

Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Ltd is exploring the possibility of tapping BPL (below poverty line) families under the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana scheme.

The move is aimed at strengthening the company’s health insurance portfolio.

RSBY, a programme announced by the Centre, aims to provide insurance cover to BPL households from major health shocks that involve hospitalisation. Health insurance, which currently accounts for about 15 per cent of its total business, is likely to increase to 20 per cent next fiscal.

“We have a team working on the government health scheme — RSBY. We want to understand the business well before venturing into it,” Tapan Singhel, Managing Director and CEO of Bajaj Allianz, said.

Apart from fulfilling social and rural obligations, RSBY is an attractive preposition for insurers due to the sheer volume of business generated.

Bajaj Allianz also plans to grow its retail healthcare portfolio by nearly 50 per cent during 2013-14. The company will bank on its distribution network to ramp up presence in the healthcare portfolio.

Currently, retail health insurance accounts for nearly a third of its healthcare portfolio.
Business Growth

Bajaj Allianz aims to achieve 20 per cent growth in premium collections to Rs 4,000 crore by the end of this fiscal. The company had clocked a turnover of over Rs 3,333 last fiscal. “Our premium collection has grown by 20 per cent in the first nine months (April-December) of this fiscal to Rs 2,818 crore as compared with corresponding period last year. We expect to reach Rs 4,000 crore business by March,” he said.

The growth in new premiums would, however, be lower in 2013-14 on account of the slowdown in the economy. “Sale of cars has come down and this will impact the motor insurance business. We expect a 14-15 per cent growth in business next year,” he said.

Motor insurance accounts for around 55 per cent of its portfolio.

The company is also planning to tap the rural insurance segment through an increase in the local distribution network.

In the next fiscal, Bajaj Allianz is looking to add around 100 offices in rural areas.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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