L&T General Insurance plans new products

L&T General Insurance Company has planned a slew of health insurance products in an attempt to make some serious inroads in the general insurance market in the next financial year.

The company, which started operations late last year, is the latest entrant in the Indian general insurance sector and has so far launched nearly 25 products and written premium worth Rs 7-8 crore till January.

“We are doing 3,000-4,000 cases a month and identified health insurance and micro insurance as our prime focus area. In the next financial year, we will be launching a whole bouquet of comprehensive health insurance products,” said Joydeep Roy, chief executive, L&T General Insurance Company.

The company will be rolling out three-four products in the health sector, at the start of the next financial year, he added.

L&T General Insurance, wholly owned by the $9.8-billion engineering company L&T, started operations with a paid-up capital of 175 crore and has already set up 10 branches.

On the corporate side, the company is tapping the L&T eco-system which includes corporate customers of L&T, borrowers of L&T finance and investors in L&T Mutual Fund. The company expects a gross written premium of 14-15 crore by the end of March 2011.

“We have 430 licensed agents and gradually we plan to extend our network to the tier-II and tier-III centres. There are agents already working in smaller cities as we perceive micro insurance to be another focus area,” Roy added, on the sidelines of 13th Global Conference of Actuaries.

According to the latest data published by Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority, the gross written premium collected by the general insurance industry during the first nine months of the financial year ended December 31, stood at Rs 30,813 crore higher by 22.41 per cent compared to Rs 25,172 crore reported in the corresponding period a year ago.