Birla Sun Life to raise Rs 30-crore equity
By Venkatachari Jagannathan | 27 Feb 2002
Chennai: Like many of its competitors, the Rs 120-crore equity-based Birla Sun Life Insurance will be increasing its capital-base by Rs 30 crore. "This is done to meet the solvency norms as laid down by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority, and not for bonus declaration," says Birla Sun Life CEO Nani B Javeri.
Javeri
was inaugurating the companys twelfth branch in Chennai.
Birla Sun Lifes average premium per policy, it is learned,
is around Rs 15,000 per annum and the average sum assured
per policy is around Rs 3 lakh, though Javeri does not
want to discuss it. The company is expected close this
fiscal with a premium income that should not be less than
Rs 20 crore.
This, according to an industry source, is very impressive for a one-year-old life insurance company. Javeri says his company is very careful in selecting its agents. "That is one reason why our agents call ratio is high." Birla Sun Life has around 1, 800 agents, and Javeri sincerely believes that the company will break even in six years time.
Starting
its operations in March 2001, Birla Sun Life closed the
year with a premium income of Rs 32.35 lakh, selling 286
policies, translating into an average premium of around
Rs 11, 300. For individuals the company has three basic
unit-linked insurance plans. The company also has a group
product and is wooing the Aditya Birla group companies
with a special premium rate.
The Aditya Birla group has an employee-strength of 72,000. The
other product for which Birla Sun Life is leveraging the
groups human resources is in selling its Bima Kavach
Yojana, a three-year endowment policy, targeting the rural
community. The company has sold 2,000 such policies till
date. And now it has a policy exclusively for lady tailors.