Mr. Vijay Kumar Sharma, (B. E; MTech, M.B.A, Fellowship of Insurance) Director and Principal officer, Good Faith Insurance Broker Pvt. Ltd has over 30 years of experience in General Insurance industry. He started with Public sector insurance company, holding various positions and responsibilities. Handled commercial line underwriting & claims, Risk inspections & risk management studies, Project Insurance consultancy to power sector clients, infrastructure, industrial projects. 

Q.    Insurance companies are into stress how you think this will affect your business?

It is our experience that, Insurance cos. are now taking more time than normal to complete the policy placement process. In most of the corporate renewals, it is our experience that insurers are asking for more information to process the proposal, which is also adding to our workload in collating the relevant information. Also, Terms given by insurance Cos. during these times are often more restrictive in coverage and we have to negotiate harder with them to ensure our customers’ requirements are adequately met at the right price. This at times becomes quite time-consuming process. Further, as most of insurance cos. executives are also working from home only, policy issuance and rectification process is also taking longer time. Therefore, maintaining customers’ satisfaction has become more challenging in these times but I am happy to say that not only our team has risen to occasion and have maintained trust and confidence of our customers with efficient services, we are also continuing to grow new business even in this stressful period.

Q.    There is a lot of redemption pressure on life insurance companies, what is your experience?

Due to covid-19 pandemic, in many Cos. there have been pay cuts & there are some instances where some of the workforce has been laid off. This has forced many affected policy holders to liquidate their investments to bridge gap in their cash flows. But surrendering policy, means certain costs to the policyholders. We are advising on case to case basis our customers based upon the plans chosen by them, whether surrendering policy will be the best option for them or not in the current scenario.

Q.    What kind of challenges have you faced in the last 5 months?

We are mostly doing consulting and broking for the corporate. Due to pandemic, there is a huge stress on Turnover, profitability and cashflows of most of our corporate clients. Their non-damage consequential losses due to pandemic are unfortunately not protected by any insurance policies, as capacity is presently not available in the insurance market. This has led to some corporate proposing their assets and other policies for insurance at the much lower sum insured values. Cutting corners in insurance coverage can have further disastrous impact, should there be any big loss. Then there are also other issues like increased exposures of liability risks incl.  cyber risks etc. which need proper evaluation and coverage. Effective and timely communication with our customers in such scenario has become even more crucial to provide them with right advice and we have been talking to them more frequently compared to the earlier times.

Q.    What are the challenges you anticipate for the next 7 months?

The challenges will continue in near future as covid-19 cases are still going unabated and nobody knows when second wave will also be there. As broker we have to continuously strengthen our IT system to support our employees who are working from homes. Also, we have to make sure confidentiality of data is not breached while working from home. Our consulting service will become more crucial as underwriters are evaluating proposal with higher scrutiny and there could be also hardening of rates. So, we have to make sure that our customers risk exposures incl. new ones are properly addressed.

Q.    Do you think online sales will take over traditional sales in the next 3 years? 1)     If Yes, Why? If No, Why?

Online sales are on rise for retail products esp. like health, motor and life insurance policies. in recent months, there is about 40% jump in online insurance sales in these policies. In my view, just a few years down the line, traditional sales channels like agents or direct marketing staff will face huge challenge in retaining their retail customers. Customers preference is changing to buy their policies by going online as they are becoming more technology savvy and also online products are available at the better pricing.  Online sale is going to be future of retail insurance products and there is going to be paradigm shift for the insurance industry. Insurance cos. are therefore putting lots of emphasis on improving their post sales services infrastructure for their online clients to improve their non-personal experience.

Q.    Are you into Retail marketing, if yes what are your future plans?

Currently we are not into retail marketing. We are by and large catering to corporate sector. Also, we don’t have any immediate plan to go into retail segment. Most of insurance cos. have online platform for retail products, also there are online distribution portals of few brokers. Online space is bit crowded and so far break-even in business seems to be distant as it entails huge costs in branding and positioning . We are on wait and watch presently to learn from experience of other cos.

Q.    Do you have POS network, if yes how it’s doing and what are your future plans?

We don’t have POS and also don’t ‘have any immediate plan for the same. We are focussing on our strength areas and continue to increase our business in commercial segment.

Q.    Where will the growth come from in your company?

We have good expertise in property & casualty lines of business and most of the growth will continue to come from these lines.

Q.    How many Covid-related claims your company has received so far and how many have been paid?

Our Co. has placed quite a good number of covid policies. Fortunately, just one claim was reported, which was settled satisfactorily.  

Q.    Which product do you think will do well in the next 2 years and why?

Health insurance will continue to do well as bulk of the growth is coming from there only. Increasing health care costs & pandemic has further made people more aware to take care of own and their families health insurance needs. Now, there is good demand for health insurance policies even from tier 2 & tier 3 cities also. On commercial side, I feel there will be more demand for customised liability products, as new risks are emerging in the new working environment.

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