LIC leads in brand recall: Study

Despite a slew of advertisements by private insurance companies, the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) continues to dominate the market. Private insurers are, however, increasingly making in-roads into the consumer mind space.

A study by Taylor Nelson Sofres (TNS) Insurance Tracker revealed that LIC accounted for 99 per cent of the unaided company awareness, followed by ICICI Prudential at 66 per cent. Other players lag far behind with SBI Life at the third spot with 29 per cent, OM Kotak (26 per cent) and Birla Sunlife (21 per cent) during the December 2003 and January 25, 2004 period.

Conducted in seven cities "" Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad "" the study monitors the impact of marketing initiatives in the insurance arena, competitive activities and the evolving needs of investor groups.

"For private insurance players, the key task is to build awareness, trust and positive disposition "" for behaviour to be impacted in the marketplace," Shobha Subramanian, senior vice-president, TNS India, said in a statement.

As a consequence of heightened media activity, private players are gaining acceptance and this indicates that LIC is starting to lose "share-of-mind", the press release added.

The study revealed that LIC's "share-of-mind" was estimated at 93 per cent in Delhi, 89 per cent in Chennai, 84 per cent in Ahmedabad, 82 per cent in Kolkata, but below 60 per cent in Bangalore and Mumbai.

Private players seemed to be faring better in Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bangalore, the press release added.