Bharati AXA General Insurance Company Ltd, one of the latest players to have forayed into the country's general insurance market, is targeting a 70 per cent jump in its turnover for 2010-11.
The company, a 74:26 joint venture between Bharati Group and the French multinational insurer AXA Group, posted a turnover of around Rs 300 crore in the last fiscal and expects to reach a turnover of Rs 510 crore by the end of the current financial year.
Addressing media persons here, Amarnath Ananthanarayan, chief executive officer, Bharati AXA said, “We are targeting a 70 per cent growth in our turnover in this fiscal. The company will also ramp up its network of agents across the country, Presently, we have over 2500 agents and we intend to take that up to nearly 4000 by the end of this fiscal.”
The company has established its presence in over 100 locations of the state and has grabbed a pan-India market share of around two per cent within a year of its operations. It has sold over 250,000 policies throughout the country and has settled more than 18,000 claims.
More than 55 per cent of the company's premium comes from the motor insurance segment.
The eastern region accounts for six per cent of the company's overall revenue. In the Orissa market, the company's premium collection stands at Rs 50 lakh per month and this is expected to go up to Rs one crore per month by the end of this fiscal as the company has chalked out its expansion plans for the state.
“Presently, Bharati AXA has an office in Bhubaneswar and the company will expand its presence to other locations of the state like Rourkela, Sambalpur and Jajpur before the end of 2010-11. The company has a network of about 30 agents in the state and we intend to double it in this fiscal”, said Ananthanarayan.
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The company has already sold over 3300 policies in the Orissa market and its growth has been primarily driven by the commercial vehicles segment of motor insurance.
Bharati AXA is also betting big on the micro insurance market in Orissa and has forged tie-ups with two micro-finance institutions- Anjali Microfinance and Arohan Finacial Services to tap the semi-urban and rural customers.
“Micro Insurance products reach only two per cent of the rural population in the country and there is a huge potential market that needs to be tapped.
We believe in exploring the potential of the untapped markets like Orissa. Through tie-ups with micro-finance institutions and NGOs (non-governmental organizations), we intend to break through this market as we are well equipped to handle a large number of customers”, Ananthanarayan added.