Credit card foray tops Vijayan's priority list

The new chairman of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), T S Vijayan, has put the launch of credit card and micro-insurance businesses on the top of his agenda, apart from maintaining the growth momentum in its core business.

In his first interaction with the media on the second day of his taking charge, Vijayan said, "We have evaluated various opportunities such as credit cards and micro-insurance. We don't have the knowledge and competence to enter the credit card business. So, naturally, we are searching for a competent business partner."

"We can select any bank as the partner. But their core competence is not credit cards. We need a business partner. We have appointed KPMG as our consultant. A series of meetings have taken place. They have submitted the feasibility report. We are yet to take a view on it," Vijayan said.

The insurance behemoth plans to start micro-insurance operations as a division within before its golden jubilee year ends.

"We have been studying micro-insurance since last two months. It is a whole new ball. The challenge lies in deciding products, distribution structures and processes without following the conventional insurance products. We hope to kick off micro-insurance operations by September 1, when we complete 50 years of operations. But before that, we will do a pilot programme on micro-insurance to evaluate our structure," Vijayan said.

The public sector life insurer also has global expansion plans. It has completed desk research on expanding its operations to Nigeria, Egypt, Australia and New Zealand. The research is over but tie-up capital is an issue," Vijayan said.

LIC is awaiting final approval for starting operations in Saudi Arabia. It already has branches in Oman, Dubai, Qatar and Saarc countries except Pakistan and Bangladesh.

"We have not entered any European countries yet. We are considering it as a long-term plan," Vijayan said.