MetLife partners Viswas to up rural footprint

As part of its diversified distribution approach, MetLife India Insurance Company Limited has entered into a corporate agency agreement with Hyderabad-based rural retail chain "� Viswas.

The tie-up envisages distribution of the former's life insurance products through Viswas' network of 300-odd retail centres in the hinterlands of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Maharashtra.

"Rural business is integral to our strategy and given the huge size of the rural market, we envision the association with Viswas as an opportunity to further enhance our rural presence," Rajesh Relan, managing director of MetLife, told mediapersons here on Monday.

Life insurance companies are required to sell 19 per cent of their policies in rural areas in their eighth and ninth financial years according to Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority's regulations.

MetLife, which forayed into the Indian market in 2001, is now in its seventh calendar year and sixth fiscal year. The company sold 550,000 individual policies since inception and currently enjoys a 2.8 per cent market share.

Through the partnership with Viswas, MetLife will offer Suvidha, a participating endowment life insurance plan with a minimum premium of Rs 173 per year. "Initially, the product will be launched in 55 retail centres on a pilot basis, which will be spread to 250 by this year end, eventually touching 450 centres by 2009," Relan said.

In Andhra Pradesh, the product will be offered in two districts of the coastal region to start with, which will be extended to other districts in the next six months.

Stating that the company plans to make rural business a financially viable and sustainable proportion, he said MetLife was developing segment-specific rural products.

"Two of our products, which are currently being offered in urban areas, would be launched for the rural masses," he said, while refusing to divulge further details.

MetLife garnered an annual first year premium (AFYM) of Rs 619 crore as at December 2007, a 150 per cent increase over Rs 250 crore in the previous year.

Its AFYM stood at Rs 200 crore for the first two months of the current calendar year.