Letters: Insuring the truth

S B Mathur has thoroughly exposed the report on reforming the structure of commissions in the insurance sector (‘Will cutting commissions on insurance help customers?’, September 9). While the report has been quick to pounce on the 40 per cent rates of commission given in the insurance industry and says this totals Rs 14,500 crore, the report omits to mention that this is just 6.6 per cent of the total premiums earned by the industry.

It would be instructive if a similar exercise is done for mutual funds and the results listed for everyone to see. Equally important, Mathur points out the bulk of the pension premia collected each year had commissions of less than 2 per cent.

The report should have put things in perspective before trying to paint the entire industry in such an unfavourable light.

Sachin Gupta, New Delhi

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