Bharti AXA Gen hunting for bank partner

Private sector Bharti AXA General Insurance today said it is looking for a bank partner to augment capital as well as its distribution network.

Besides, the insurer is planning to infuse Rs 90 crore by end of this month, taking its total capital base to Rs 550 crore, Bharti AXA General Insurance Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director Amarnath Ananthanarayanan told PTI.

He said the company has five products in the pipeline,

Bharti AXA General Insurance is a 74:26 joint venture between telecom giant Bharti and Europe's major insurer Axa.

"We are looking to rope in a bank partner in our existing joint venture. Whether it will be equity participation or distribution partner that will be worked out later," Ananthanarayanan said.

As part of the JV partner hunt, Bharti AXA, has bid for the proposal floated by state-run Punjab National Bank and hopes to finalise a partner by year-end.

"We have bid for the Request For Proposal (RFP) floated by PNB. We will finalise the partner by December," he said.

Last month PNB said it has received expression of interest (EoIs) from various companies and would decide on the model of a insurance JV by end March.

Of the five products Bharti AXA General has in the pipeline, two are awaiting Insurance Development and Regulatory Authority's (Irda) approval.

In its five products, two come under the health category, one retirement and two fall in the motor.

The products, which have been filed for, include international travel and student travel. While that in the motor category has features like 'pay as u drive' and 'Residual value insurance'.

The company collected Rs 320 crore as premium last fiscal and hopes to increase it by 60%.

"We expect a 60% growth in premium collection and hope to cross the Rs 500 crore premium mark and one million policies by March end," Ananthanarayanan added.