IndiaFirst Life today said it has collected first year premium of over Rs 200 crore in just four and half months since the insurance company became operational.
"Crossing the Rs 200-crore mark in new business premium and achieving the highest start up phase premium productivity are the two big achievements," IndiaFirst Life Insurance Managing Director and CEO P Nandagopal said.
IndiaFirst Life Insurance, the 23rd player in the space, is a three-way joint venture between Bank of Baroda, Andhra Bank and their British partner Legal & General. The company had a soft launch in mid November 2009 and a nationwide launch in mid-March this year.
By the end of March 2010, the company attracted over 70,000 policyholders. Its products are available at 3,100 branches of the banks across the country.
"We plan to expand distribution to all 4,500 branches (combined branch strength of BoB and Andhra Bank) by the end of the current fiscal," Nandagopal added.
Based in Mumbai, IndiaFirst is capitalised at Rs 330 crore, of which BoB holds 44 per cent, Andhra Bank 30 per cent and the rest 26 per cent -— the maximum permissible FDI limit in the sector -— is with the British partner.
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Nandagopal further said the company plans to initially focus on the bancassurance model, leveraging the existing customer base of the promoter banks. Currently, the company has 3 products, which it is planning to increase to around 10 by the end of this fiscal.
"We plan to launch 6 products in the current fiscal. In the current month, we would be launching 2 products, for which we have got the approval of the regulator," Nandagopal added. He further said the products would be a mix of both traditional ones and Unit Linked Insurance Products (ULIPs).
Last week, BoB Chairman and Managing Director M D Mallya had said IndiaFirst Life Insurance would break even by 2015. "We would expect this (IndiaFirst Life Insurance) company to break even by the next five years," he had said.