6 sept 2001

idbi has global aspirations
mumbai: the newly-appointed chairman of the industrial development bank of india (idbi), padmanabha p. vora wants to make it a global player.

" my desire is to take idbi on the road to universal banking. in the changed market scenario, cost of funds, operating cost and the spread are factors extremely critical in determining the profitability of the institution and universal banking provides it with flexibility," mr. vora told media persons here.

he said idbi would also like to tap financing of pharmaceuticals, telecom, consumer goods, housing and infrastructure which offer opportunity for growth in business and profitability.

"housing offers good growth potential and idbi already has plans to enter this business. the sector is expected to grow at 25 to 30 per cent per annum,'' said mr. vora who was the head of the national housing bank before assuming charge at idbi.

5 sept 2001

lic's premium payments through net soon
chennai - life insurance corporation has entered into tie-ups with two payment gateways to enable its policy-holders pay premium through the internet. addressing a press conference here, lics south central zonal manager madan mohan mukherjee said the required infrastructure and machinery were being set up at divisional and branch offices.
mr mukherjee said with a view to facilitating reduced response time in service delivery the lic would set up a toll-free telephone line, call centre in the divisional office and revamp the grievance redressal machinery.
lic also plans to expand the number of metro area network (man) centres and introduce interactive voice responsive system (ivrs) centres across the country.
in the south central zone, lic has 93 branches connected with man centres in the zone, proposed to expand them by another 79 branches in these centres and 78 new man centres at new branches in the zone.
the corporation has tied up with two payment gateways -- billjunction.com and timesofmoney.com -- for enabling the policy-holders to pay premium through the internet. lic has also tied up with icici bank, hdfc bank, uti bank and bank of punjab for remitting premium of their customers and debiting their account after the remittance.

4 sept 2001

no rebates on commission from private insurers
mumbai - private sector life insurance companies have stopped the age-old practice begun by life insurance company of rebating on commission of agents to lure new policy-holders. it is learnt that om kotak life insurance has sacked two agents who passed on their commission to their customers as an incentive to buy insurance policies. other life insurers like birla sun life and icici prudential are issuing strict directives to their agents.
says a top official with an insurance company, "our agencys force should be professional enough to be called advisers, and we want them to earn their commissions by providing proper advice."
considering that commissions go up to 35 per cent in the first year, rebating of commission can make a significant difference in the returns to an investor in a life insurance policy and some agents are willing to forego a significant chunk of their first years commission as they are assured of steady commission payments through future installments.

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