Private insurer IndiaFirst Life Insurance, which has a paid up capital of Rs 430 crore, plans to infuse another Rs 120 crore in the first quarter to fund expansion plans and maintain its solvency margin.
"We are planning to infuse Rs 120 crore in the first quarter (April-June), taking the total capital to Rs 550 crore to fund our expansion plans, including setting up of financial planning centres and solvency capital requirements," IndiaFirst Life Insurance Managing Director and CEO P Nandagopal said here.
Further capital infusion depends on growth of the business, he added.
The focus of the 17-month-old company in FY12 will mainly be on maintaining costs and increase productivity in order to achieve break-even within five years of operations.
"We are one of the most cost efficient insurance firms in the country with an operating expense ratio of 19%. We are planning to bring it down further to around 15% in FY12," he said.
The private insurance firm collected Rs 704 crore worth of premiums from new business in FY11 and plans to double this performance in the current financial year, Nandagopal said.
He said the insurer, which has a 1,200-strong direct workforce, plans on marginal addition of another 300 employees in FY12.
IndiaFirst Life Insurance is a joint venture between two of India's largest public sector banks -- Bank of Baroda and Andhra Bank -- and the UK's leading risk, wealth and investment company, Legal & General.
IndiaFirst Life Insurance has 12 products in its portfolio under almost all categories and 4-6 more are in the pipeline for the current fiscal.
"We have submitted 4-6 six products, both in individual and group categories, for regulatory approval and are planning to introduce two every month," Nandagopal said.
The company plans to launch health insurance and pension plans soon.
In the product mix, the insurance company mostly has unit-linked (ULIP) offerings and only 5 per cent of the products are in the traditional section.
"We are planning to raise our traditional offerings to 10-15%, but keep a strong ULIP portfolio," he added.
The company plans to focus on alternative distribution for maximising sales and recently launched financial planning centres (FPCs) in line with these plans.
"Our FPCs are one more step toward moving closer to our customers, both potential as well as existing. We are sure that these FPCs will help take our service standards to the next level," Nandagopal said.
The insurer is also looking at strengthening other alternative distribution channels like online, agency, regional and rural banks and tele-marketing, he added.
