LIC ties up with Policybazaar.com for distribution of its products

Ahead of its much-awaited initial public offering (IPO), state-owned insurance behemoth Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), has tied up with insurance aggregator Policybazaar.com for distribution of its products. This is LIC’s first association with an insurance aggregator, and otherwise relies heavily on its large agency force of 1.33 million agents for distributing its products.

In a statement, Policybazaar.com said they have joined hands with LIC to offer a wide range of term and investment products to consumers. “This affiliation aims at facilitating seamless digital distribution of life insurance products across the nation”, the company said.

Sarbvir Singh, CEO, Policybazaar.com said, “With this alliance, our strategic objective is to expand our reach, especially in the smaller cities to ensure financial inclusion and social security. LIC has spearheaded the life insurance segment in the country and so this alliance will provide an amplified reach to people.”

Policybazaar.com, the flagship platform of PB Fintech, is the largest online insurance marketplace in the country which distributes products of 51 insurance companies, which include life, general, and standalone health insurance companies.

LIC’s individual agents sourced almost 97 per cent of its new business premium (NBP) in the first six months of FY22 from its products on a standalone basis. Further, in FY21, these individual agents of LIC had sourced 94 per cent of its NBP from individual products. In FY20, this number stood at 95 per cent, and in FY19, it was 96 per cent.

Apart from a robust agency distribution network, the state-owned insurance company also has 72 bancassurance partners, comprising eight public sector banks, 42 co-operative banks, six private banks, 13 regional rural banks, and one foreign bank. It also has 175 alternative channel partners, of which there are 44 insurance marketing firms, 59 brokers, and 72 corporate agents. Further, the insurance giant also boasts of 3,463 micro insurance agents.