National Insurance, SBM ink referral pact

National Insurance Co Ltd and the State Bank of Mysore have signed an agreement for undertaking bancassurance business under the "referral mode".

This tie-up is expected to benefit NIC by giving it a dependable and vast network of SBM branches all over India and in particular, the state of Karnataka for selling general insurance products. This strategic alliance will help NIC in sustaining their topline growth.

With the addition of this tie-up with SBM, NIC will have 11 such arrangements in place with major banks such as Indian Overseas Bank, Allahabad Bank, State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, UCO Bank, Vijaya Bank among others.

"Even though we have a tie-up with SBI Life, it will not have a conflict of interest with this tie-up as the former is for life cover only. With this tie-up, we will be offering the complete range of products besides life insurance. It will promote the very culture of insurance as a concept. While SBM will provide market access, NIC will look at addressing various needs of the customer," M Seetharam Murthy, managing director, State Bank of Mysore, said.

NIC, on the other hand, is confident that it will register nearly Rs 50 lakh per month as a premium, as a result of this tie up with State Bank of Mysore.