Insurance industry needs to make quantum use of the data deluge

MR Kumar, Chairman, LIC has said that today's companies need to make quantum use of the data deluge. While addressing 24th Annual CD Deshmukh Memorial Seminar in Pune on January 11, Kumar said that the theme for the day's event, 'transforming the life insurance sector through disruptive innovation', was aptly chosen given the advancements in the industry. It is transforming into a heavily data driven industry.

The industry needs to be ready with an appropriate segmentation of customers to fully cater to their customized needs. 20 million people are added to the job market every year and that is a huge number which needs to be targeted. The mid-life cycle group is a knowledgeable group with access to the internet and technology. They are aware of the products in the market, he said.

They are very much conscious about financial planning, and this is a group that needs to be keenly looked upon by the life insurance industry with products such as ULIPs, pensions and annuities, and so on. The population of senior citizens is also on the rise, and they will be exhausting their life savings way before they die. Advancements in technology and an increase in life expectancy have ensured longer lives for older people. This group needs to be targeted with annuity products.

Parmod Kumar Arora, member (actuary), IRDAI, in his deliberations mentioned that the insurance industry is a growing industry and the biggest disruption in the sector will be brought in by welcoming the private companies with superior technology innovations. He stressed upon the need to vigorously focus on the low insurance penetration. There is a need to relook at regulations hampering the ease of doing insurance business. He also emphasized that by 2047, every individual should have adequate personal life cover, adequate health cover for themselves, their family members and proper property cover.

Devesh Srivastava, CMD, GIC Re, Chairman NIA Governing Board presented key insights of what the industry can do and what can be done to be part of the disruptive innovation. He focussed on the importance of increasing the insurance penetration. The speed of settlement of claims, satisfaction of customers, smooth onboarding process, hassle-free claims process, etc will play a very important role in building the trust of the customers.

Saurabh Mishra, Joint Secretary, DFS, MOF, Government of India in his special address presented the dynamic disruptions in the insurance industry in India. He spoke about the Covid-19 pandemic and how it created the most unseen disruption in the market which eventually led to technological innovations. Innovations have been brought in the areas of claims settlement, customer centric products and services. He eloquently spoke about taking insurance to the unserviceable areas of India and the role played by the government in it.

He mentioned that the life insurance industry is poised for a tremendous growth in the next decade and collected a new business premium of Rs 3.15 lakh crores in 2021-22 with a growth of 13 per cent. Srinivasan also highlighted the life insurance penetration which is 3.2 per cent and the density is $69 which is quite low. He also talked about the huge mortality protection gap of 83 per cent which on the positive side gives huge opportunities to the industry to tap the market with protection coverage, annuities and retirement products.

The modern technologies need to be leveraged fully to improve speed, connect and also empower the customers. There were three panel discussions during the seminar.

Panel -1 on the transformational regulatory initiatives- catalyst for growth was moderated by Amit Roy, MD - Insurance & Allied Businesses, PwC and Prashant Tripathy, MD & CEO, Max Life Insurance, Naveen Tahilyani, MD & CEO, TATA - AIA Life Insurance, Mahesh Balasubramanian, MD and CEO, Kotak Mahindra Life Insurance, Kamlesh Rao, MD and CEO, Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurance were the other panellists.

Panel-2 on InsurTech as Force Multiplier to Increase Life Insurance Penetration was moderated by Prerak Sethi, (Moderator), CEO & Founder of RIA – an InsurTech Company. Rahul Bhanose CEO, bizAmica, Sumit Ramani, Co-Founder & Actuary, ProtectMeWell.com, Prasad Krishnamorthy, VP, Products, Head of Insuretech SBU, Perfios Software Solutions participated in the discussion.

Panle-3 on Innovative Customer Connect and Customer Experience was moderated by Mini Ipe, Managing Director, LIC of India and Anand Pejawar, Deputy Managing Director, SBI General Insurance, Vineet Agarwal, Sr VP & Head (Sales Strategy), SUD Life Insurance, Sarbvir Singh, CEO, Policybazaar.com, Rupa Mogaveera, Chief Operating Officer, Aon India Insurance Brokers were the part of panel discussion.

Essay writing competition winners were declared and insurance awareness quiz competition winners were felicitated during the seminar.

P Venugopal, Chair Professor (Life), V SathyaKumar, Chair Professor (Financial Inclusion & Social Security) and LC Meena, seminar coordinator thanked all the dignitaries for gracing the seminar and making it a wonderful learning experience.