Airtel, Bharti AXA tie up for insurance cover

Bharti AXA General Insurance has announced a team-up with sister company Bharti Airtel to facilitate payment of premium through a mobile phone. The company, which has completed just over eight months of operations, is planning to increase its branches to 29 from the present 17. It is working on a host of products in the health, and retail segments.

"We are interested in a setting up a system that allows premium payment through mobiles. We may also look at packaging insurance policies with mobile phone connections," Bharti AXA chief executive officer Amarnath Ananthanarayanan told journalists in Kolkata.

"BAGI will leverage the Bharti Group's large customer pool and develop a strong multi-channel distribution network in both urban and rural markets," he added. However, Ananthanarayanan gave few details, saying, "We are keen to offer services to our policyholders and have started working on it. We need to look at the economics of the system."

He said that mobile-based services like insurance payments in case of hospitalisation and payment of monthly instalments for home loans would gradually become popular.

The company is also working on products like micro-insurance, travel insurance cover, and home insurance. All these products are likely to be launched in the current financial year.