Weekly Insurance Round-up Tuesday, December 14, 2021

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We're back with the latest edition of Beshak's Weekly News Round-up - an analysis of all Insurance News & Updates from our in-house research team. 

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✴️ IRDAI must be allowed to regulate hospitals: IRDAI Member 🏥

✴️ LIC premium can now be paid via an EPF account 💸

✴️ 42% Increase in New Business Premium for Life insurers in November 📈

✴️ Non- Life Insurer’s Gross Direct Premium rises in November 📈

✴️ A study shows 9 out of 10 urban Indians feel their savings are inadequate 😥

✴️ Acuvisor App launched for enabling training for insurance professionals 📱

✴️ Online Insurance Broker Probus Insurance Raises $6.7 Mn Series A Funding 💰

✴️ InsurTech Platform HealthySure Raises undisclosed amount in Pre-Series A 🤑

• On Monday, 6th December 2021, IRDAI member (Non-Life) T.L. Alamelu stated there should either be a regulator to regulate the hospitals or IRDAI must be allowed to do so.
• Considering the constant rise in healthcare costs, T.L. Alamelu opined that IRDAI has control over how insurers are increasing their premiums but, on the healthcare side, the increase in cost is not controlled as there is no regulator.
• As per T.L. Alamelu, sometimes they had to step in and have a word with the government.
• Having an entirely regulated healthcare ecosystem will help protect the public and increase their trust with regard to both healthcare and health insurance, said T.L. Alamelu.
• Beshak Take: It is necessary to have a regulator to look over the rates and tariffs of hospitals. The healthcare costs have gone up by at least 20% and many people are finding it difficult to cope up with this. 
• A lot of people do not have insurance in India as the insurance penetration is as low as 4.2% and the insurance density is $78 in FY21. To add to this, the healthcare costs are only going up and causing a problem for people without insurance. 
• It's really great that people have started talking about this in the industry. Appointing a regulator will ensure that the healthcare charges are standardized across all hospitals and help both - those without and with insurance to deal with the expenditure to a great extent.

Source: The Economic Times

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• Members of the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) can now pay their LIC premium from their Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) account.
• For paying the premium from the EPF account, one must - 
  • Fill and submit form 14 at the EPFO’s office.
  • Link both the LIC policy and EPF account.
  • Have at least 2 years of LIC premium in the EPF account.
  • Be a member of EPFO for at least 2 years and continue to be the EPFO member for availing of this feature.
• Many taxes and investment experts are considering this decision as a boon at a time where the pandemic has led many into a financial crisis.
• This facility will be available to pay the premium for LIC policies only and not for any other insurance.
• Experts suggest that since the EPFO funds are for retirement purposes, one needs to think wisely and use it as an optional payment until one is facing a financial crisis and discontinue it immediately once the financial crisis is over.

Source: Live Mint 

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• IRDAI launched the New Business Statement of Life insurers for November 2021 on Tuesday, 7th December 2021.
• As per the report, the new business premium of life insurers increased by 42% (from ₹19159.30 Cr in November 2020 to ₹27177.26 Cr in November 2021). The new business premium of all life insurers up to November 2021 witnessed an increase of 8.46%.
• The new business premium of LIC for November 2020 was ₹12092.66 Cr. which increased by 32.04% to ₹15967.51 Cr. in November 2021, whereas the new business premium up to November 2021 (₹114580.89 Cr.) was 0.93% less than the new business premium up to November 2020 (₹115658.74 Cr.).
• Private insurers saw a 58.63% increase in their new business premium, where the new business premium in November 2021 increased to ₹11209.75 Cr. from ₹7066.64 Cr. Private insurers also saw a 29% increase in their new business premium up to November 2021 that increased to ₹66184.52 Cr. from ₹51004.23 Cr.

Source: The Economic Times

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• As per the Monthly Business Figures- Non-Life report released by IRDAI on 8th December 2021, the gross direct premium written by non-life insurers increased 5.5% (from ₹14,919.43 Cr.in November 2020 to ₹15,743.22 Cr. in November 2021).
• The gross direct premium written up to November 2021 was ₹1,42,128.88 Cr. which was 11.72% more than the gross direct premium written up to November 2021, i.e. ₹1,27,217.19 Cr.
• The general insurers’ gross direct premium saw an increase of 4.2% (from ₹13,018.69 Cr. in November 2020 to ₹13,566.39 Cr. in November 2021). The Gross Direct Premium up to November 2021 was 9.9% more than the gross direct premium written for up to November 2020. (₹1,20,169.21 Cr. - up to November 2021 & ₹1,09,316.65 Cr.- up to November 2020)
• Standalone insurers gross direct premium increased by 29.8% in November 2021 to ₹1,516.77 Cr. from ₹1,168.40 Cr. An increase of 36.96% was witnessed in the gross direct premium written up to November 2021 as compared to the gross direct premium written up to November 2020 (₹12,458.27 Cr- up to November 2021 & ₹9,096.23- up to November 2020).
• However, two specialized insurers, Agricultural Insurance Company Ltd and ECGC Ltd witnessed a dip of 9.87% in November 2021 as the gross direct premium decreased from ₹732.35 Cr. in November 2020 to ₹660.06 in November 2021. The gross direct premium up to November 2021 was 7.92% more compared to the gross direct premium up to November 2020. (₹9,501.40 Cr.- up to November 2021 & ₹8,804.31 Cr- up to November 2020)

Source: The Economic Times

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• In partnership with Karvy Insights, Max Life Insurance launched its first edition of ‘India Retirement Index Study’ (IRIS) that checks the retirement preparedness of individuals.
• The survey was conducted to check urban India’s preparedness to live a worry-free retired life. 
• Conducted via a self-administered digital study with 1800+ participants from across 28 cities which included 6 metros, 12 Tier-I, and 10 Tier-II cities, the study states that urban India’s Retirement Index stands at 44 on a scale of 0 to 100. 
• The study is segmented into 3 components- 
  • Health Index - To check the health-wise preparedness of urban Indians for their retirement life. The rank of health index in the urban Indians was lowest (41) compared to the other indexes, which is a concern.
  • Financial Index - To check the financial preparedness of urban Indians for their retirement life. The financial index was ranked at 50 which raised concern over the financial preparedness of urban Indians.
  • Emotional Index - To check the emotional support that one has or will have during retirement times. The emotional index was the highest (62). This showed community support from family and friends for emotional and social needs during retirement.
• As per the survey, 4 out of 5 urban Indians feel they’ll be in good health during their retirement years. While 63% of the participants felt that being in good health will be most important, 29% felt that financial support is important and the remaining 8% felt that social support is important. 
• The survey shows that even though people have a positive attitude towards retirement, 1 out of 3 Indians doesn’t want to retire.
• Further, the retirement preparedness in metro cities was more (47) as compared to Tier I (43) and Tier 2 (44) Cities.
• Investing for retirement life is something that almost everyone prefers for independent retirement living. 67% of the participants considered life insurance as a preferable investment tool. 
• Bank deposit was the second preferred investment tool, followed by real estate, physical gold, mutual funds, and other funds.
• Beshak Take: The survey throws some light on the preparedness of urban Indians towards their retirement life. It is visible that the pandemic and the rising expenditure have made people realize that investing is an important factor to live a worry-free life in the future. 
• The awareness related to insurance has increased among people and hence, many are considering life insurance as the best investment tool. Educating people more about insurance benefits and proper investment channels is the need of the hour.

Source: Live Mint

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• Pune-based Acuvisor insurance brokers have launched an app that will enable the training of aspiring professionals and also sell specifically designed products.
• Launched by Mr. Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways, in a virtual event, Acuvisor aims to create a well-trained point of sale person via the app who’ll be allowed to sell only specially designed insurance products. 
• With the help of the app, Acuvisor will also increase its geographic reach in most tier-II and tier-III cities, and rural areas across India.
• As prescribed by IRDAI, the app has a mandatory 15 hours training course divided into multiple modules. The company has also tied up with 34 insurance companies.
• The app will have a presentation for prospective clients that will help them understand their insurance needs and help the point of sale persons to calculate the human life value of the clients and suggest suitable insurance policies for free.

Source: Times of India

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INVESTMENT NEWS

• In a series A funding round led by BlueOrchard Impact Investment Managers, Probus Insurance has raised $6.7 Mn.
• Probus Insurance is an online Insurance broker licensed by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA), founded in 2002 by Rakesh Goyal.
• BlueOrchard is a global impact investment manager, founded in 2001, by the initiative of the UN. It is the first commercial manager of microfinance debt investments worldwide.
• Probus Insurance will focus on expanding its business across many areas and technology advancement. 
• In FY 2021, Probus has sold 1.13 Mn Insurances policies across 14,500 pin codes. It aims to reach out to more than 10 Mn insurance beneficiaries in the next four years.

Source: Inc42

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• HealthySure raised an undisclosed amount in its pre-series A funding round which saw participation from We Founder Circle (an early startup investor) and other marquee investors.
• HealthySure will use these funds to scale up their team, operations and enhance their tech to make the experience seamless for their users.
• Started by IIM Bangalore Alumni Anuj Parekh and ISB Alumni Sanil Basutkar, HealthySure is an employee welfare platform.
• It provides unified health insurance and healthcare facilities like maternity benefits, hospitalization, accident cover, etc. that are affordable and accessible to the Indian workforce and their families. It also offers digitized policy and claim experience with tailored health and wellness offerings. 
• HealthySure has also launched a unified health insurance plan that enables employees to personalize their corporate health cover with continuity post-employment.

Source: BW Disrupt

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