ING Vysya Life to tap small retailers

Private life insurance company ING Vysya Life Insurance is looking to tap the small retailers and food courts to sell its products.

It is currently working out the modality to align with NGOs working in the rural areas to sell its products, said Rene van der Poel, director, alternate channels and employee benefits, ING Vysya Life.

The company will gradually approach mobile phone sellers, grocery stores, affinity groups and self- help groups to sell its products.

Currently, it is getting new customers through two channels – ING Vysya Bank and alternate channels including referrals by the cooperative banks. “The alternate channels business is one of the fastest growing distribution channels,” he said.

ING pays a 5.5 per cent premium as commission to the cooperative banks for making referrals. It has tied up with 160 cooperative banks spread over 1,900 branches in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. It will add another 20 cooperative banks this year.

Referrals accounted for Rs 42.5 crore of the total business in 2007 as against Rs 21.3 crore in 2006. “We expect to grow at 75 per cent this year,” he said, adding that till July ING Vysya Life garnered a business of Rs 32 crore.

This year, so far, it has enrolled 14,000 new policies through referrals and expects to surpass last year's 21,765.

Among other states, it expects Andhra Pradesh to contribute at least Rs 3 crore to its business by March 2009 as it plans to double the referral tie-ups from the present six to 12 during the same period, Rene said.