Insurance: As part of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India’s (IRDAI) vision of ‘Insurance for All’ by 2047, the Indian insurance industry has come together to collectively drive insurance penetration in Mizoram. Tata AIA Life Insurance and IFFCO-Tokio General Insurance are leading the initiative, which is supported by life insurers and general insurers from India’s private and public sectors.
Life Insurance provides comprehensive solutions by providing cover for one’s life, employees etc with term insurance as well as opportunities to grow wealth with guaranteed income and investment linked plans. In addition, the category has pension products to ensure a worry-free retirement. On the other hand, general insurance offers cover for property (vehicle, house) as well as health indemnity cover as well as corporate and rural insurance (tractor, crop insurance) solutions.
Under the leadership of IRDAI, a committee consisting of representatives of various life and general insurance companies is working towards increasing the awareness and dissemination of life insurance in the state.
As part of the process to discuss the progress of the initiative and the way forward, a meeting was held in Mizoram under the guidance of Shri Lalramsanga Sailo, Secretary, Government of Mizoram, Gautam Kumar, Deputy General Manager, IRDAI. Key dignitaries including senior officials, agents and bank representatives from Common Service Centers (CSCs), life and general insurance companies were present at the joint industry-level stakeholders’ meeting.
Sharing his keynote address at the event, Secretary, Government of Mizoram, Lalramsanga Sailo said, “Insurance is the most important safeguard for any individual, family or business. We are very happy to support IRDAI’s initiative to launch state level insurance awareness and penetration campaign. We are keen to participate in the initiative and ensure the success of this programme. We expect life and general insurance companies to contribute significantly in promoting insurance, generating employment and promoting entrepreneurship in the state of Mizoram.”
Speaking on the occasion, Gautam Kumar, IRDAI said, “IRDAI as the insurance regulator has envisioned Insurance for All by 2047. We look forward to taking the support of the State Government of Mizoram to increase insurance awareness and penetration in the state. Happy. Mizoram is one of the most literate and prosperous states and hence there is a lot of scope for the development of insurance sector. People of Mizoram will definitely get the benefit of the safety net of insurance and this will also create new opportunities for employment and development Will be
Sharing its vision as a lead life insurer, Girish Kalra, Chief Marketing Officer, Tata AIA Life Insurance, said, “In line with IRDAI’s vision, Tata AIA is leading the life insurance industry’s efforts to make insurance accessible to every citizen. making it accessible to of Mizoram. We have already implemented a mass media campaign in FY23 to reach out to over 8 lakh people of Mizoram through digital and social media. Our tie-up with Common Service Centers (CSCs) has enabled us to reach out to the rural and remotest places of Mizoram. We have further scaled up our efforts for FY24 with other life insurance companies and will deepen our reach in Mizoram through a number of initiatives including village level entrepreneur training, Bimarth introduction, tie-up with MSME associations etc.
Sharing his perspective, Raj Bora, EVP, IFFCO-Tokio General Insurance said, “We are committed to work towards the goals set by IRDAI. We have already started with insurance awareness activities in several districts of Mizoram. and are planning to scale up the activities in a big way. Under the guidance of IRDAI and state authorities, we along with other insurers will organize various training sessions and joint initiatives to increase the reach and awareness of insurance in the state.”
Digital campaign – reached 8 lakh people
Tata AIA along with other life insurance companies have implemented campaigns through popular digital and social media which are widely viewed by the people of Mizoram. The focus of this campaign was to improve citizens’ awareness and understanding of financial planning. To achieve this goal, a series of videos were developed in the Mizo language, using simple story lines and featuring Ka Pu Sanga, a financially savvy middle-aged Mizo resident.
The response to these videos has been overwhelmingly encouraging with high (8%+) engagement among viewers across digital and social media. These videos explain how life insurance provides a wide range of benefits to people at different life stages – families can be protected against life’s uncertainties with term insurance, they can plan for rising costs with guaranteed income plans, and pension With the products you can ensure a worry free retirement. Additionally, these campaigns were linked to a special website in Mizo language to provide detailed information about the solutions and their benefits.
IFFCO-TOKIO is also creating visibility for general insurance solutions with the help of outdoor media campaign in identified areas of the state. It will also undertake social campaigns in Mizo to increase digital reach.
Rural outreach through Common Service Centers (CSCs)
To bring much-needed life insurance coverage to the people of Mizoram, Tata AIA supported over 50 Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs) in association with Common Service Centers (CSEs), an organization run by the Ministry of Electronics and IT. Known as the last mile of delivery, a VLE provides essential government and non-government services from CSC outlets for the welfare and development of rural communities. Tata AIA provided permanent visibility at CSC outlets and trained these VLEs on life insurance solutions to help them in life insurance business.
IFFCO-Tokio, along with other non-life insurance companies, is planning to conduct insurance seminars and van activations to reach out to rural areas of Mizoram.
Benefits to the people of Mizoram
The initiative launched by IRDAI in collaboration with the State Government of Mizoram will have several benefits:
- Security Cover to the Citizens of Mizoram – Life Insurance and General Insurance Cover
- Job creation with recruitment of insurance staff, consultants across the state
- Development of industry, especially MSMEs which are the backbone of India’s growth engine. The insurance industry provides specialized solutions in the area of business insurance
Referred to as the land of whispering winds and blue mountains, Mizoram boasts of the second best literacy rate in India. It has a literacy rate of 91.3%, which is much higher than the national average of 74.0%. Despite being the second least populous state in India, Mizoram has the unique distinction of having an equal male-to-female ratio across age groups.
About Tata AIA Life
Tata AIA Life Insurance Company Limited (Tata AIA Life) is a joint venture company formed by Tata Sons Pvt. Ltd. and AIA Group Limited (AIA). Tata AIA Life combines Tata’s pre-eminent leadership position in India and AIA’s presence as the largest, independently listed pan-Asian life insurance group in the world spanning 18 markets in the Asia Pacific region.
About Tata Group
Founded by Jamsetji Tata in 1868, the Tata Group is a global enterprise, headquartered in India, comprising 30 companies across ten verticals. The group operates in more than 100 countries across six continents, with a mission to ‘improve the quality of life of the communities we serve globally through long-term stakeholder value creation based on leadership with trust’.
Tata Sons is the principal investment holding company and promoter of Tata companies. Sixty-six percent of Tata Sons’ equity share capital is held by charitable trusts that support education, health, livelihood generation and arts and culture. In 2021-22, the combined revenue of Tata companies was to be $128 billion (INR 9.6 trillion). These companies collectively employ over 935,000 people.
Each Tata company or enterprise operates independently under the guidance and supervision of its own board of directors. There are 29 publicly listed Tata enterprises with a combined market capitalization of $311 billion (INR 23.6 trillion) as of March 31, 2022. Tata companies include Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Motors, Tata Steel, Tata Chemicals, Tata Consumer Products, Titan, Tata. Capital, Tata Power, Indian Hotels, Tata Communications, Tata Digital and Tata Electronics.
(With PTI inputs)