Aviva To Set Up Six More Branches By March 03

The Gurgaon-headquartered Aviva Life Insurance, which announced the official launch of its India operations on Wednesday by declaring open its offices in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Bangalore, plans to open six more full-fledged branches in the country before March 31, 2003.

Disclosing this, Aviva chief executive officer Stuart Purdy said "While the Hyderabad office will be opened on July 1, our branches in Kochi, Lucknow, Ludhiana, Jaipur and Coimbatore will commence commercial operations in the first quarter of the next calendar year."

Aviva, which is a joint venture between healthcare major Dabur and international insurer CGU, also announced the nationwide launch of its three mainstream products with various riders and lots of options. They include LifeLong - a regular premium whole life protection plan, LifeSaver - a regular premium flexible endowment savings product, and LifeBond - a single premium savings policy.

 

According to Purdy, within the next couple of months Aviva would also be introducing a whole range of other insurance products comprising simple savings plan, pension savings plan and flexible group products extending cars loans, home loans, etc.

To market these products it has recruited and trained 700 financial planning consultants and also entered into exclusive tie-ups with ABN-AMRO Bank, American Express, Canara Bank and Lakshmi Vilas Bank.

While ABN-AMRO and American Express have started selling the Aviva products from Wednesday, Canara Bank and Lakshmi Vilas Bank are awaiting the Insurance Regulatory Development Authority (IRDA) to announce the corporate agency regulations, which is expected to happen within the next three months.