Innovation is a key driver to achieve insurance for all

Mumbai: Siddharth Mohanty, chairman, Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) has said innovation is going to be the key driver for reaching the goal of Insurance for all by 2047 on mission mode.

``Evolving realities must get its reflection in our product innovation, process innovation and distribution innovation. Our processes need to be relooked, reimagined and redesigned to reflect present day realities. Our processes like underwriting, claim settlement etc were created in an age when data-analytics was a manual exercise. Now we need to use profiling through AI to automate and simplify all processes like underwriting, fraud detection, and Investment management,’’ outlined Mohanty while delivering 25th Annual Sir C D Deshmukh Seminar organised by Pune based National Insurance Academy recently.

Projected to be 1.64 billion by 2047, India’s population demands comprehensive insurance coverage. It is the collective responsibility responsibility of the insurance industry to bridge the protection gap, especially in diverse societal strata. The government’s commitment and IRDAI’s reforms fortify the mission, said Mohanty

By 2047, with an increased per-capita income level, it is expected that the size of the Insurable Population will be approximately 1 billion. India’s vibrant economy, with a burgeoning middle class and a youthful workforce, offers vast opportunities for the Indian insurance industry, he elaborated..

``We have always been doing our last-mile fulfilment through traditional agents or banking partners. This has created a huge gap at the bottom segment. Direct distribution and easy fulfilment to use JAM (Jandhan-Aadhar-Mobile) enablers. Initiatives like Bima Vahak – A women centric distribution model, aims to make insurance more accessible in rural India. It has the potential to do a paradigm shift in the way we do our fulfilment'' suggested Mohanty.

In the age of high competition for the business in the industry, Mohanty, however, emphasised that insurance companies also need to prioritize purpose before profit and should focus on social consciousness rather than on top or bottom line consciousness and drive the objective of “Insurance for all by 2047” on mission mode.

According to him, insurance companies have an additional responsibility to spread the message of Insurance, to every insurable person.

``Surely, we need to take care of the aspiring, socially mobile segment of the country. But we must not, lose our focus from the poor, downtrodden segment. We have to keep in mind that insurance protection is a significant component of financial inclusion. Insurance, especially Life Insurance, is the only way to survive in case of death of the breadwinner of such a family,’’ he observed.