Demand for both general and life insurance has certainly gone down after the Covid pandemic, according to Mahesh Balasubramanian, chief executive officer at Kotak Mahindra Life Insurance Co.
In the past five years, the life insurance industry witnessed a growth on the back of high-ticket-size product sales rather than number of policies sold, Balasubramanian told BQ Prime on Wednesday on the sidelines of the National Insurance Academy's annual event in Mumbai.
"Companies, to maintain old levels of growth, will now have (to) sell more number of policies because the ticket size will come down as compared to the past," he said, pointing to the taxing of high-ticket non-par products with premiums more than Rs 5 lakh from April 1.
Balasubramanian On Industry Highlights
Group protection is growing well—upwards of 20–25%, depending on the insurer.
For individual protection, there is a need for more capacity to address the individual protection needs of customers.
Group-term prices have corrected, and no further reduction is expected.
Unit-linked insurance plans would have grown strongly for most players in the first half of the year and are better than last year.
Management Regulations
At Kotak, he said they were comfortable with the new expenses of the management regulations.
"The new regulations will help us align commission strategies in line with what the distributor wants."
At ground level, he said they haven't seen any dramatic changes in terms of commission payouts and competition on account of the new regulations.
He does not expect them to lead to a great expansion of commission payouts.
Watch The Interview Here
Essential Business Intelligence, Sharp Market Insights, Practical Personal Finance Advice, Daily Fuel, Gold and Silver Prices and Latest Stories — On NDTV Profit.
