We hope to achieve break-even in 3-4 years'

Edelweiss Tokio Life Insurance, one of the first in the segment to get the foreign shareholder stake hiked to the new 49 per cent cap from the earlier 26 per cent, says it is moving towards profitability. DEEPAK MITTAL, managing director and chief executive, talks to M Saraswathy. Edited excerpts:
 
The foreign direct investment (FDI) stake hike has been completed. Where will these funds be utilised?
 
The FDI demonstrates long-term commitment of our partner, Tokio Marine, to the business in India. We are one of the fastest growing in the sector and continue to invest in the business to drive growth. The funds will be used for business expansion and to fulfill our growth aspirations.

 

By when do you aim to achieve break-even?
 
Life insurance is a long-term business and depending on business models, companies have taken from eight to 10 years to do so.  More, the environment in the past few years has been quite challenging, with the sector seeing negative growth. Signs of recovery were visible last year and this year continues to augur well from a growth perspective.  In this environment, we have been able to grow at a fast pace. With the big opportunities for life insurance, we hope to achieve break-even in the next three-four years. If we are able to grow ahead of our plans and more efficiently, we can achieve this earlier.

 
Would you be launching more products for the online segment?
 
Online is an important channel for us and we will continue to invest in it. We believe digital channels will play a key part in the future and continue to watch this space to capitalise on whatever opportunities present themselves. Launch of Edelweiss Tokio Life-TotalSecure+ (an online-only comprehensive protection plan) is a testimony. We will continue to design products targeting online customers and addressing the need of this evolving segment.
 
Will you be looking to tie-up with more banks for distributing insurance, since the regulator has allowed partnering with up to three insurers each, in life, non-life and health?

 
Open architecture in the corporate distribution space has created interesting opportunities for insurance manufacturers. Among the new non- bank-backed entrants in life insurance, we are the only company which has had a bancassurance partner for the past three years, and have been able to grow the business multiple times. We will look for tie-ups with other banks and are in discussion with some in this regard.
 
Health insurance is a segment where life insurers are competing aggressively with general insurers and health insurers. Will the aim be to have more products in this space?
 
In addition to TotalSecure+, we already have one standalone critical illness product and two riders. All these offerings are fixed benefit- based. We believe this segment will continue to grow and attract discerning customers. Hence, we will be launching some innovative products in the time to come.