ICICI Prudential Life Insurance optimistic about growth opportunities in FY22

ICICI Prudential Life Insurance is optimistic about the growth opportunities this fiscal despite the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has affected the lives and livelihoods of many.

“Our aspiration to double the value of new business (VNB) growth by 2020-23 is guided by APE growth or overall topline premium growth. Amit Palta, Chief Distribution Officer, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance said, “We generally need to grow at 25 to 28 per cent per annum on VNB for the next two years.

In conversation with business Line, Palta said the insurer recorded its best ever month in March 2021, but growth was hit from the second half of April as the Covid-19 case load spread. However, it has improved in the last few weeks of May.

As per IRDAI data, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance reported a 38.55 per cent growth in first year premium in the first two months of the financial year till May 31, 2021, though it declined by 3.93 per cent in the month of May 2021. Palta said that they expect continued growth based on additional breadth in distribution set up by the insurer, positive environment and momentum in insurance sales that was seen from the second half of 2020-21.

The insurer added over 100 partnerships in the last fiscal, which it believes will help accelerate distribution and growth.

bancassurance partnership

In terms of bancassurance partnership, it has tied up with IndusInd Bank, AU Small Finance Bank, IDFC First Bank, RBL Bank and NSDL Payments Bank. It tied up with distributors including PhonePe and Wealth India Financial Services as well as insurance broking entities- BSE EBX and Magnum Insurance Broking.

“These partnerships have enabled us to increase our distribution footprint. Notably, our 23 Bancassurance partnerships have enabled us to expand our reach to 162 million bank customers with around 12,000 branches,” Palta said.

The partnership with IndusInd Bank, IDFC First Bank, AU Small Finance Bank and RBL Bank is significant for the insurer. “We commissioned them last quarter and we see them as a contribution to our growth vision,” Palta said. For ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, about 33 per cent of the business comes from ICICI Bank and another 11 per cent comes from bancassurance tie-ups with other banks.

Source: Christmasisland