Demand for pure protection products to surge post lockdown: Max Life chief

The outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic has led to increase in demand for pure protection products like term insurance and this is expected to gain traction post lockdown, said Max Life Insurance CEO Prashant Tripathy.

There is pressure on growth due to the lockdown but the life insurance business would be back on its feet once it's lifted, he said.

"Insurance is a very fundamental thing of life like food, clothing and shelter...We are finding that the demand for protection business has gone up. People are preferring term rather than saving products to secure the future of their loved ones in these uncertain times," he told PTI.

COVID-19 is expected to result in improved awareness and importance of life insurance as a risk cover rather than a mere investment product during the uncertain times, he said.

Tripathy also emphasised that like any other business, insurance too is very much connected with economic growth and there will be impact on the industry if there is deceleration as has been projected by various agencies.

"There has been an impact on new sales due to the lockdown. We are trying to cover it up with digital means. For the lockdown period, there would be pressure on growth," he said.

Sharing details of sales through digital means, he said, "we quickly adapted to new reality and initiated sellers' online training for enabling digital engagement across distribution channels, as an outcome of which around 24,000 policies were issued in the last week of March 2020 since the announcement of lockdown."