HDFC Life eyes 15% growth in new business premium

Company banks on two recently launched products; collects Rs 3,310 cr new business premium in 2014-15 with 10% growth

Leading private sector insurer HDFC Standard Life Insurance Company Ltd, is eyeing 15 per cent growth in new business premium collection in this fiscal.

The company is banking on its two recently launched products - HDFC Life 'Uday', an endowment plan and HDFC Life Cancer Care Plan to boost its premium collection.

"We have already sold more than 35,000 policies of cancer care plan within a month of its launch. We are looking to sell more than 200,000 policies of this plan by the end of this fiscal. HDFC Life has also got a very good response to 'Uday'. Going forward, we believe Uday can be one of our top selling products," said Sanjay Tripathy, senior executive vice president (marketing, products, digital and e-commerce) at HDFC Life.

HDFC Life collected Rs 3,310 crore new business premium in 2014-15, registering growth of around 10 per cent.

Tripathy believes 'Uday' would draw a good response in the Odisha market.

"Uday is a low ticket endowment plan targeted at the low income groups. It is mainly designed for Tier-II and Tier-III cities. We believe that this product would get a very good response from Odisha. Presently, the state contributes 1.5 per cent to our total business and its share is expected to go up to 2.5 per cent by next fiscal," he said.

"With just 3.1 per cent penetration of life insurance in India in 2013, there is scope of significant growth when compared to other countries. Our favourable demographics, growing population base, increasing insurance awareness, drive for financial inclusion and rising financial literacy along with rise in domestic savings marks it the right time to drive insurance penetration," he added.

HDFC Life Uday starts with a premium as low as Rs 500 per month. By paying premium for eight years, one can enjoy cover for up to 15 years. The plan comes with an in-built accidental death benefit to provide additional lumpsum benefit on death due to an accident.

The other product - HDFC Life Cancer Care is a health plan that provides financial support on diagnosis of early or major stages of cancer. The plan is competitively priced offering Rs 20 lakh cover for a period of 20 years to a 35 year old male or female on payment of annual premium of less than Rs 1,800. The plan also comes up with an indexation option whereby the sum assured increases by 10 per cent every year.