'Online buying of non-life insurance schemes rising in India'

Online purchase of non-life insurance policies in the country is on a rise, while motor insurance attracts the maximum number of customers, a study said today.
"... Online purchase of non-life insurance products in India is growing across buyers in metros and non-metros.
"The adoption was higher for motor insurance with 24 per cent users buying these policies online, whereas 12 per cent users had purchased health insurance online," according to a joint study by tech giant Google India and ICICI Lombard General Insurance.
The study, based on offline survey of 3,007 respondents who were active Internet users, was conducted to understand the level of comfort and current usage of online purchase of non-life insurance products.

As per the study, Internet users in the age group of 25 to 35 years were the most active in buying non-life insurance online.
For motor insurance, the behavior was consistent across age groups with even older age band from 46 to 55 preferring to buy or renew motor insurance online.

Ease of purchase and convenience were the primary drivers for buying motor insurance online.
For health insurance, first time buyers were more willing to buy and renew policies online.
Further, it said that consumer behavior for research and purchase across desktop and mobile was similar.
It said as much as 80 per cent users accessed the Internet for insurance related search or purchase through desktop or laptop.

"While, a higher 85 per cent are doing so through the mobile/tablet. This clearly indicates that consumers tend to shift between devices during the research phase," it added.
Citing "Brand" as the most influential factor, 88 per cent of respondents said reputation of the company influenced their purchase whereas 67 per cent were influenced by word of mouth.
"The survey findings clearly reveal that the online medium is playing a critical role in the purchase of non-life insurance products," said Sanjay Datta, Head (Underwritings and Claims), ICICI Lombard.
On barriers to buy non-life insurance online, respondents said personal contact with an agent and better post sales service were the key reasons for not using the Internet.

"Our studies indicate that Internet will influence Rs 300-400 thousand crore worth of insurance sales in India by 2020. Findings from this report clearly outline that consumers are shifting to Internet at a more rapid pace than perceived earlier," said Vikas Agnihotri, Industry Director, Google India.