Insurance cos join hands with Visa cards for

Visa and 20 insurance companies in India have joined hands to make paying life and general insurance premiums "faster and easier" through a range of new payment options for Visa cardholders.

Participating companies are: Aegon Religare, Bajaj Allianz Life, Bajaj Allianz General, Bharti AXA Life, Birla Sunlife, Future Generali, HDFC Ergo, ICICI Lombard, ICICI Prudential Life, IDBI Fortis, ING Vysya Life, Kotak Life, Max New York Life, Metlife, Reliance General, Reliance Life, Royal Sundaram, SBI Life, Tata AIG General and Tata AIG Life.

The consumers can pay their annual insurance premiums for participating companies with a click of a mouse and their Visa Debit or Credit card by logging on to www.visabillpay.in or the participating insurance company websites, Visa said in a statement here.

For cardholders who prefer other payment channels there are options to pay over the phone through their insurance company call centre or sign a standing instruction with their bank to pay their insurance company through their Visa card. Visas payment options also help insurance companies enhance operational efficiency by enabling timely payment, the statement said.

Payment via Visa cards also helps insurance companies reduce handling costs through automating the payment process, which in turn can speed up customer service and improve consumer perceptions.