Bancassurance is a dominant driver of our business: Vighnesh Shahane, CEO, IDBI Federal Life Insurance
In conversation with exchange4media, Vighnesh Shahane, CEO, IDBI Federal Life Insurance, spoke about his vision for this new marketing initiative, how the brand’s marketing efforts through sports have helped them and his business goals for 2018
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IDBI Federal Life Insurance Quest for Excellence and Pullela Gopichand Academy launched #YoungChampsCampaign which is an initiative that aims to promote grassroots badminton and encourage young talent in India to consider the sport as a career. Vighnesh Shahane, CEO, IDBI Federal Life Insurance, spoke to exchange4media on his vision for this new marketing initiative, how the brand’s marketing efforts through sports have helped them and his business goals for 2018.
Excerpts:
How was 2017 for IDBI? How much growth did you record in the individual insurance segment?
We recorded between 35-40 per cent growth in the individual premium sector. The last financial year was extremely strong. When demonetisation happened; mutual fund, banking and insurance witnessed unprecedented increase in business. It went very strong, thanks to DeMo.
What is your vision for this new marketing initiative undertaken by IDBI?
Training under Gopi is one amazing opportunity. Our vision would be that we hope we receive a lot of response for this initiative and I wish our next gold medal comes from here.
How have the marketing efforts through sports helped the brand?
It helped us to create a lot of visibility, as five years back we were like the best-kept secret. We’ve got a clutch of awards and have been voted as one of the top 10 brands. So, there is no direct correlation between top-line growth and marketing efforts but I think there are a lot of intangible benefits to growing visibility as more people know us now.
Speaking about Bancassurance, are you still scratching the surface with it?
I think that Bancassurance is a dominant challenge for a company. For us, every per cent of our business is coming from Bancassurance. Our two banks, IDBI and Federal, have 3,500 branches amongst themselves. Bancassurance for us is a dominant driver of our business.
What are your thoughts on open architecture and do you think that the concept has taken off in India?
Open architecture on face value is a good concept. It gives the customer a choice. It hasn’t taken off in this country because insurance is not a core product for the bank whereas Bancassurance is all about going deep rather than going wide. It’s about selecting the right insurer and going deep with that.
What are your larger business goals for 2018?
One of our larger goals for 2018 would be to maintain a run rate in growing top-line. We have been growing top-line consistently at 35-40 per cent. So, we aim to maintain that trajectory and grow holistically across other parameters like persistency, risk-management, employee, marketing, visibility and digitisation.
Excerpts:
How was 2017 for IDBI? How much growth did you record in the individual insurance segment?
We recorded between 35-40 per cent growth in the individual premium sector. The last financial year was extremely strong. When demonetisation happened; mutual fund, banking and insurance witnessed unprecedented increase in business. It went very strong, thanks to DeMo.
What is your vision for this new marketing initiative undertaken by IDBI?
Training under Gopi is one amazing opportunity. Our vision would be that we hope we receive a lot of response for this initiative and I wish our next gold medal comes from here.
How have the marketing efforts through sports helped the brand?
It helped us to create a lot of visibility, as five years back we were like the best-kept secret. We’ve got a clutch of awards and have been voted as one of the top 10 brands. So, there is no direct correlation between top-line growth and marketing efforts but I think there are a lot of intangible benefits to growing visibility as more people know us now.
Speaking about Bancassurance, are you still scratching the surface with it?
I think that Bancassurance is a dominant challenge for a company. For us, every per cent of our business is coming from Bancassurance. Our two banks, IDBI and Federal, have 3,500 branches amongst themselves. Bancassurance for us is a dominant driver of our business.
What are your thoughts on open architecture and do you think that the concept has taken off in India?
Open architecture on face value is a good concept. It gives the customer a choice. It hasn’t taken off in this country because insurance is not a core product for the bank whereas Bancassurance is all about going deep rather than going wide. It’s about selecting the right insurer and going deep with that.
What are your larger business goals for 2018?
One of our larger goals for 2018 would be to maintain a run rate in growing top-line. We have been growing top-line consistently at 35-40 per cent. So, we aim to maintain that trajectory and grow holistically across other parameters like persistency, risk-management, employee, marketing, visibility and digitisation.
