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Max New York takes insurance business across India

Max New York Life Insurance said on Thursday it had launched operations in eight Indian cities to become the first private life insurer to have a national footprint.

The firm is 74 per cent owned by health care and information technology company Max India Ltd and 26 per cent owned by New York Life International Inc, one of the biggest insurance players in the United States.

"We see the (life insurance) potential in India as greater than any other country in the world," said Gary Benanav, chairman and chief executive officer of New York Life International Inc.

There are no official estimates of India's insurable population, but industry estimates put it at about 400 million, more than three times the 115 million people insured by state-owned giant Life Insurance Corporation.

India opened its state-dominated insurance sector to private and foreign insurers in 1999.

India annually spends some 0.3 per cent of its GDP on life insurance compared to the more than 3.0 per cent spent by Taiwan and between 4.0-5.0 per cent spent by the United States.

"Over the next 10 years the penetration of life insurance in India will increase dramatically," said Benanav, whose company has more than $130 billion of assets under management.

Analjit Singh, the chairman of Max New York Life and the founder of Max India, said: "The company has the best-in-class infrastructure...to deliver the highest standards of service to our customers across the country."

Six-month old MNYL has 250 employees and is capitalised at Rs 1.05 billion ($22.41 million).

Other foreign companies selling insurance through joint ventures in India are Standard Life Plc, Prudential Plc, American Insurance Group and Sun Life Services.

All of them are in competition with LIC, which has a headstart of nearly five decades, an over 2,000-strong computerised branch network and some 819,000 agents nationwide.

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MNYL said it was offering five life insurance products with seven options that can be customised into 200 different combinations to suit any customer's pocket and needs.

"It's like selling pizzas with toppings," said Anuroop 'Tony' Singh, MNYL's chief executive officer.

The firm -- which has some 500 agents, offices in eight cities and a 24-hour helpline -- plans to differentiate its offerings to change the Indian mindset on life insurance.

"The approach (to selling) is one of quality rather than quantity," Singh said. "We would like to be in the top three life insurers in the country."

"Our products are mutually exclusive to LIC," Benanav added.

The company offers an insurance cover of between Rs 10,000 and Rs 10 million ($213-to-$213,484) for anyone between three months -- an industry first -- and 70 years in a price range of Rs 100-to-Rs 578,000 ($2.13-to-$12,340) per year.

While traditionally tax breaks and investments have been key drivers for insurance policies in India, Singh hopes to change the mindset to getting protection and covering risk.

MNYL hopes to break even in about seven years, in line with the international benchmark of between seven and 10 years for a life insurance company.

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