Aegon Religare to hire 10,000 agents this fiscal

Private sector life insurer Aegon Religare today said it would hire 10,000 agents in the current fiscal to support its expansion plans.     

"We would hire 10,000 agents this fiscal taking the headcount to 12,000, out of which more than 2,000 have already been employed," Aegon Religare Chief Executive Officer Rajiv Jamkhedkar told reporters.     

In addition to this, the company plans to recruit about 300 sales managers in the current fiscal, he added.    

To grow its business, the company intends to invest Rs 230 crore during 2009-10, out of which Rs 95 crore have already been infused.     

The insurance firm, which is a three-way venture promoted by Religare Enterprises, Aegon of the Netherlands and Bennett, Coleman has launched its unit linked insurance plan — Aegon Religare Invest Maximiser — which the company claims would give the highest rate of return among other such instruments.    

"The Aegon Religare Invest Maximiser Plan is aimed at providing the customer with the highest value and is a reiteration of our core strategy of being customer-centric both in terms of products as well as service and overall experience," Jamkhedkar said.    

The company also plans to launch 4-5 new insurance schemes in the next six months. "We intend to launch 4-5 schemes in the current fiscal, including one traditional and one health product," he added.     

When asked if there are any plans to go for an initial public offer, Jamkhedkar said: "currently, IPO is not in our radar."     

Aegon Religare started its operations in July 2008 and currently has 52 branches in 42 cities across the country. The insurance firm has 1,500 employees, over 35,000 customers and has infused Rs 395 crore in the company till date.     

The company intends to take its new business annual premium collection to Rs 240 crore by the end of the current fiscal.