IndiaFirst Life eyes Rs200 cr premium by March end

“We’ve already collected over Rs150 crore and hope to close 2009-10 with a premium collection of Rs200 crore (since operations began last November)," IndiaFirst Life Insurance Company chief investment officer A.K. Sridhar said.

“With employee strength of 950 the company, which was formally launched by the finance minister last Friday, is 23rd player in the life insurance space and collected its first Rs100 crore premium in less than 100 days," he said.

A three-way joint venture (JV) between Bank of Baroda, Andhra Bank and their British partner Legal & General, IndiaFirst started its operations in November 2009.

Of the Rs330 crore equity capital of IndiaFirst, BoB holds 44%, Andhra Bank 30% with the remaining 26% being held by the British partner—the maximum permissible FDI limit in the sector.

Talking about the products being offered through select branches of both the banks, Sridhar said that the initial product range caters to the typical needs of savings, education and retirement based on the customer’s life stage. “It will be followed by a whole range of protection, wealth accumulation, health and group insurance plan," he added.

IndiaFirst products are available at 1,750 branches of BoB and Andhra Bank across the country now. “The insurer plans to expand its distribution to all 4,500 branches (combined branch strength of BoB and Andhra Bank) by the end of this year," he said. BoB has 3,050 branches, some of which are overseas, while Andhra Bank has 1,544 branches across the country.

“The company plans to initially focus on the bancassurance model, leveraging the existing customer base of the promoter banks," he said. Both the banks have about 5 crore customers.

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