Madurai, March 14,2014: New India Assurance is all set to increase its retail penetration by opening more micro offices and appointing agent managers in every region.
Speaking to Business Line on the sidelines of opening its third regional office in Tamil Nadu here today, the company’s Chairman-cum-Managing Director G Srinivasan said that New India is targeting an agent force of one lakh by 2015.
‘We are on an aggressive drive. We will be recruiting 20,000 agents in 2014 and an equal number next year. There are around 60,000 active agents at present,’ he added.
The company announced the opening of 4 divisional offices – at Karaikudi, Nagapattinam, Nagercoil and a second oneat Tiruchi – and 53 new micro offices today.
Publicity resource
‘We have more than 1,000 one-man operated, computerised offices in tier II and III towns. Such offices help in better penetration. That apart, a mobile van has also been flagged off to take insurance to the rural masses. The van is connected to a central database and is enabled to issue policies on the spot. This would be a publicity resource for the districts covered under the Coimbatore and Madurai regions,’ he said.
The company is planning to put into service 4 to 5 such vans in the next six months. On the need for opening a regional office in Madurai, he said ‘proximity to the customer would help quicken claim and policy servicing, as also third party claim administration. We want to reap the benefit of increased industrial activity in the South, particularly Tuticorin and Karaikal ports.’
The company is planning to open two new regional offices at Raipur and Hubli soon. ‘Devolution of powers and taking decision making closer to operations is going to be our focus in the coming months,’ he said.
The company, which recently introduced women-specific policies for account holders of Bharatiya Mahila Bank and for domestic servants in association with Indian Merchants Chamber, Mumbai is in the process of formulating a retail product.
“We foresee the need for such a retail product providing health, personal accident and home cover. The premium would be meagre, affordable particularly for those below the poverty line. We will be filing it with IRDA soon”, he added. Business LIne
