Come April 1, Thomas Cook India will start selling insurance products in the country. The travel agency will be able to do so because some of its directors have undergone a 100-hour training programme and appeared at the agents' examination, a prime Insurance Regulatory Development Authority (IRDA) requirement for becoming corporate insurance agents. Indeed, Thomas Cook chief executive officer (CEO) & managing director Ashwini Kakkar topped in the exam.
The State Bank of India (SBI), which has an insurance arm, still won't be able to sell insurance products because SBI chairman Janki Ballabh and six other directors have neither undergone a 15-day classroom session nor appeared at the agents' exam.
So SBI Life Insurance Company is forced to sell its products through the tied agency force, and cannot hawk them through the banking channel.
R Krishnamurthy, managing director, SBI Life, said, "We primarily had no intention of selling through agents. However, the present regulations on corporate agents do not facilitate sales through the bancassurance channel."
SBI Life is at present unable to tap the vast 9,000-branch network of the parent, the largest in the world. Insurance companies are awaiting the necessary modifications in the regulations, which currently mandate all directors to undergo the 100-hour training session and pass the examination before they can utilise the branch network for the sale of insurance products.
Thomas Cook India has designated one of its four Indian subsidiaries to sell non-life insurance products. Though Kakkar declined to identify the name of the insurance company which the travel agency has tied up with, he stated that the insurance products would be sold to travellers through Thomas Cook from April 1.
Kakkar sees immense growth potential for insurance for outbound travel.
This, in turn, will pave the way for travel insurance products. India is among the least insured countries in the world. Countries such as Germany do not allow visitors' entry without an insurance cover.
Thomas Cook India's plan to offer insurance cover to travellers is in line with the practice overseas where travellers insure themselves and their luggage before setting out on long trips.
