RelianceLife proprietary channel hiring to grow by 20% in FY15

Insurance firm has already hired over 2,000 people under its proprietary channels in the past 1 year

Private insurer Reliance Life Insurance, which hired 2,000 for its proprietary channels in the past one year, today said it plans to strengthen this category by 10-20% in the next financial year 2014-15.

"With the customer-centric distribution channels we are focusing on small towns and non-urban India and aiming to reach out to those 70% of the populace who are yet to benefit from life insurance.

"We believe these channels will help us increase our footprints and service the country with our innovative products and services," Reliance Life Insurance CEO Anup Rau said in a statement.

The Anil Ambani-led insurance firm has already hired over 2,000 people under its proprietary channels, such as Life Plaza, Face-to-Face and Career Agency in the past one year.

This is in addition to the existing 80,000 advisors and over 8,000 outlets across India.

Reliance Life has recruited over 500 women as Life Planning Officers (LPOs) under this service-based sales platform Face-to-Face, which aims at servicing customers, whose agents have become inactive in tier I and II towns.

"Face-to-Face distribution channel is operating with LPOs, who are primarily woman employees, with housewives being one of the key target segments for recruitment. They are trained to service orphan policies, develop a relationship and then cross-sell to existing customers and build their network through references," Rau added.

Life Plaza model, with a current headcount over 500, is a structured need-based in-branch sales platform aiming to create awareness about life insurance and fulfilling the needs of prospective customers through financial planning and its array of products and services in Tier II, III and IV towns, he said.

The company has also introduced Career Agency, a new distribution channel offering a fixed stipend structure to prospective advisors who look at insurance as a long-term professional career during the training period.

For Career Agency, the company is focusing on tier III and IV cities for the recruitment of agents and currently have about 1,200 workforce.

"We are confident that these distribution channels will help us expand and strengthen the existing distribution channels in order to increase our reach. We hope to replicate the success that these models enjoy in Japan. We expect these proprietary channels to contribute 10% in the business next year onwards," Rau said.

Reliance Life has recorded a whopping growth in its new business premium at Rs 1,022 crore and total business premium at Rs 2,000 crore during the April-September period of 2013-14.

The company, whose total premium during the last financial stood at Rs 4,015 crore, is expecting a double digit growth this fiscal.