MetLife to pump in Rs 231 crore capital

Metlife India Insurance Company will infuse Rs 231 crore capital this year for meeting the solvency requirements and expanding its reach. After the infusion, the capital base will increase from the present Rs 530 crore to Rs 761 crore.

The company is targeting 140 per cent growth in new business premium at Rs 600 crore this year. MetLife earned new business premium of Rs 251 crore from January to December 2006.

The company had earned a first year premium of Rs 262.6 crore from January to June 2007, a growth of 159 per cent compared with Rs 101.2 crore from January to June 2006. The gross written premium was Rs 344.1 crore from April to March 2007.

At a press conference here today, Rajesh Relan, managing director, MetLife, announced a bancassurance tieup with Barclays. "With this tie up, we will get access to the mass affluent and above segment of the bank customers," said Relan.

Met Life already has a tie up with Jammu & Kashmir Bank, UTI Bank, Karnataka Bank and Dhanalakshmi Bank. Bancasurance contributes 48 per cent of the new business premium, agency 48 per cent and the remaining 4 per cent is from employee benefits. In October last year, MetLife had entered into a bancassurance tie up with UTI Bank which contributed 30 per cent of the total business.

Speaking about the company's business plans, Relan said, "We are targeting Rs 550-600 crore of new business premium, we will be increasing the number of branches from current 42 to 92, increasing our agency force from 25,000 to 40,000 by December this year."

MetLife's products are available at over 500 branches of its partner banks. In last nine months, the company has increased its market share to 2.5 per cent among private players from 1.2 per cent market share in last one year.