Metlife plans to open four branches more in Andhra

Metlife India is chalking out its expansion plans by opening 23 more offices across the country by the end this calendar year.

In Andhra Pradesh, the insurance company plans to open branches in Rajahmundry, Vizag and Vijayawada, apart from a second office in Hyderabad. It also plans to introduce a new unit-linked policy by December.

Speaking to Business Standard, Metlife India CEO Venkatesh Mysore said, "We will be expanding our services by this calendar year, through 42 offices in 27 cities from the current number of 19 offices in 12 cities. Among these, around 10 will come up in the rural sector. In Andhra Pradesh, we plan to open branches in Rajahmundry, Vizag and Vijayawada."

The board of directors has approved an additional infusion of Rs 75 crore capital for funding the growth and meeting the solvency, Mysore added.

"This year we hope to triple our business and our goal is to get around Rs 60 crore of new business premium by the year-end. We also plan to increase our agent-count to 10,000 from the current 3,000, by the end of the next year," Mysore said.

With plans to register a 300 per cent growth by December this year, Metlife is targeting a turnover of Rs 60 crore from Rs 22 crore last fiscal. "Within the next few weeks we will also finalise two tie-ups in bancassurance with private sector banks for better distribution," he added.

Metlife has covered 1,20,000 lives till now in the group insurance scheme that was launched on 31 December last year and the total sum assured has been in excess of Rs 2,300 crore.

"In the US, Metlife has around 22 per cent share in group insurance and among the Fortune 100 companies, 88 are Metlife customers," he added.

"We rank among the top three companies in group insurance in India and we hope to rank the highest in another two to three years. According to a recent study on brand recall, our company has registered the highest increase in recall," Mysore pointed out.

According to Mysore, 80 per cent of their business is processed within a day because of the internet-based system. "Policies are issued, processed and documented within a day. Around 20 per cent of our processes are medical, so they take some time," he added.