Star Union Dai-ichi Life to start online sales

Star Union Dai-ichi Life Insurance is not looking at any capital raising for the next 12-18 months despite robust business growth in the recent months. Primarily a bancassurance-based organisation, the company aims to start selling its products online in the next two quarters, a top company official has said.

“We are quite well off… for at least next 12-18 months. We are very efficient with the capital we have. We are not looking at any capital infusion for the next 12-18 months into our balance sheet”, Mr Saurabh Mishra, Chief Marketing & Distribution Officer, Star Union Dai-ichi Life Insurance told Business Line here. The company has paid-up capital of Rs 250 crore. Mr Mishra was in New Delhi for the launch of traditional endowment plan Dhan Suraksha Platinum. He said that the company aims to garner premium income of Rs 300 crore from this product by end March this fiscal.

For its online foray, Mr Mishra said the company is initially looking to sell term products and target it at the Internet-savvy age group of 28-38.

Efficiency-led growth

Star Union Dai-ichi Life Insurance, which is a joint venture of Bank of India, Union Bank of India and Dai-ichi Life Insurance, had received IRDA licence for undertaking life insurance business in end-December 2008. The company expects to close the current fiscal with a total premium income of Rs 1,500 crore, Mr Mishra said. Last fiscal, the company had recorded a total premium of Rs 1,200 crore.

About 8,400 branches of Bank of India, Union Bank and some cooperative banks support Star Union Dai-ichi Life's growth.

“Our growth is efficiency-led. This is because our cost of channel, cost of customer acquisition and cost of servicing are more optimum and efficiently placed than others who depend on agency channels, which are capital intensive”, Mr Mishra said.

Mr Mishra said the company would want to remain a multi-distribution channel player even as it was primarily betting on the bancassurance channel for growth