ICICI Pru inks Rajasthan deal

ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company has entered a strategic partnership with e-mitra, the e-governance initiative of the government of Rajasthan.

This partnership will provide the policyholders of ICICI Prudential Life the convenience of paying their first as well as renewal premiums in cash at 626 service centres spread across 13 districts of the state.

Customers can walk into the listed e-mitra kiosks, produce their acknowledgement letter and policy number and make their premium payments in cash.

ICICI Prudential Life has announced similar institutional tie-ups for cash management solutions with the e-governance initiative of the government of Andhra Pradesh and the Department of Posts in some other states.

Taking a cue from its achievements in the segment while meeting the IRDA guidelines, the company has identified rural India as the next big opportunity and has thus put an effort to strengthen its presence.

Speaking at a press conference here on Thursday, Rishi Srivastava, senior vice-president & head, rural business, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, said, "With the company strengthening its presence in rural India through a robust multi-channel distribution, it is critical to provide its customers the service experience on a par with that in urban India."

Our partnership with e-mitra will increase our on-ground touch points with the customers and enable them to pay their premiums in cash at the nearest e-mitra kiosk."

ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company is a joint venture between ICICI Bank and Prudential plc. It was one of the first players to commence operations when the sector was opened to private players in 2000.

For the half year ended September 30, 2007, the company garnered Rs 2,466 crore of weighted retail and group new business premiums and has underwritten over 5 million policies since inception. The company has a network of over 735 offices and over 243,000 advisors.