Aegon Religare eyes Rs 240 cr premium

Aegon Religare Life Insurance (ARLI), a joint venture of the Netherlands-based Aegon and India’s Religare Enterprises Limited, has targeted a premium amount of Rs 240 crore in the current financial year, which is its first full year of operations.

The company, which started operations in July 2008, has a capital base of Rs 550 crore. It has over 50,000 customers and 7,000 insurance advisers.

According to chief operating officer Yateesh Srivastava, the company’s Star child plan, which is aimed at encouraging parents to plan their child's education, will account for 10 per cent of ARLI’s total premium.

He told mediapersons here on Wednesday that ARLI had launched a scholarship scheme for the children of Star child plan subscribers as a part of its advertising campaign. The company had set up a corpus of about Rs 8.2 lakh for the scheme under which five “lucky” children would be given a scholarship of Rs 2,000 a month each till they attain the age of 18 years or finish Class 12, whichever was earlier.

A 12-year-old boy from Hyderabad, Naushad Ali, is among the five children selected for the scholarship this year. Starting from April 2010, Ali, son of a mechanic, would receive Rs 24,000 a year for a period of six years from ARLI, Srivastava said.