Bharti AXA General Insurance, a 74:26 joint venture between Bharti Enterprises and French financial protection company AXA Group, forayed into home and shop insurance segments with the launch of two products – Smart Plan Householder’s Package Policy and Smart Plan Shop Package Policy – here on Tuesday.
Speaking to mediapersons after the launch, Bharti AXA Chief Executive Amarnath Ananthanarayanan said the company, which saw a GWP (gross written premium) of Rs 14 crore as on March 2009, was expecting the two segments to contribute 10 per cent to its overall volumes in the next 12 months.
“The estimated premium of home insurance in India in FY09 was Rs 150 crore and housing accounts for 4.5 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) with the urban housing accounting for 3.13 per cent. Shop is another segment, which is unexploited and offers great potential for shop insurance,” said Balaji Cuddapah, vice-president (property and engineering).
Stating that the company currently has 36 branches across 27 cities, Ananthanarayanan said their plan was to expand to 70-odd locations by the end of 2009, including 10 branches in Hyderabad, Kurnool, Guntur, Rajahmundry and Anantapur. “Our target this year is to improve presence in Tier-III and Tier-IV towns,” he added.
