Insurance firms launching mobile apps to woo customers

New India Assurance and Cholamandalam have already launched their mobile apps that enable customers to renew their policies or buy new ones

With m-commerce picking up, insurance companies too are coming out with mobile applications offering customers the comfort of choosing products at their will.

Companies like public sector New India Assurance, one of the largest general insurers, and private Cholamandalam M S General Insurance, part of the Murugappa group, have already launched their mobile apps that enable customers to renew their policies or buy new ones.

According to industry experts, 65% of mobile users in the country access the internet through mobile phone and 40% of them are "active" data users.

A senior official of New India Assurance said the company had launched two applications -- one for the customer and other for the agent -- on operating systems including Blackberry, Android and Windows.

"We launched the applications two weeks ago on a pilot basis. The New India Customer app is for customers who can get new policies or they can renew their current policy. We have already launched lot of mobility solutions", New India Assurance, Deputy General Manager, K Ravi Shankar said.

Stating that there was good response to the initiative, he said 20,000 downloads of the app had been made so far.

Besides this, the company is also focussing on creating awareness among rural people on insurance products by launching a mobile van to reach the prospective customers in their place itself.