Importance of Life Insurance after COVID-19 / Awareness: The Kovid epidemic has had a great impact on our lives and our attitude towards the future. Due to the epidemic, more than 5.3 lakh people died in India. In this way, the pandemic affected the general perception of people regarding financial stability and financial immunity. In a post-pandemic survey, more than 50% of respondents now believe in creating an emergency fund, while around 80% say insurance is important for financial planning. People’s interest in term life coverage increased immediately and there was an increase in the number of people comparing term products on the Internet.

The effect of this change in attitude and the growing interest of the people has been that the insurance penetration in India increased to 3.2% in 2020-21, which was 2.8% in 2019-20, according to the report. regulator’s annual

• Customer expectations and behavior in rural India

1. The need for confidence and awareness of the rural population
2. Emerging market for life insurance in rural areas

Generally, Indians maintain insurance in the amount of 3.5 to 4 times their annual income while individuals are advised to take out insurance in the amount of 10 to 25 times their annual income. Life insurance penetration has increased, but we find that it is mostly seen in urban India and even today the majority of the rural population do not have adequate insurance coverage. In a country like India, where around 65 percent of the population lives in rural areas, this is believed to lead to a life insurance protection gap of up to 80 percent. This figure shows the need to increase awareness and penetration in this segment.

However, the adoption of technology has provided an essential means of reaching such customers even in rural areas. According to one estimate, 50 percent of the Internet-using population in India comes from rural India. Because of this, there is great potential to reach customers in these areas through digital and serve them.

The needs and challenges of rural India are different as the ticket size should be smaller here. Apart from this, there are challenges of their own such as uncertainty in the season and income and the provision of services to people in rural areas.

The focus should be on providing solutions to these customers rather than just distributing insurance products. Shriram Life’s focus has been on the rural and urban population. About 44 percent of the company’s business comes from rural India. The company has been looking for solutions and processes over the years to meet the needs of its customers.

• Use of AI for customer interaction

1. Emerging digital trends for life insurance in 2022 and beyond

2. Increase in customer transactions through digital media

Due to the epidemic, more people are embracing digital and have greater confidence in transactions through digital platforms. According to some reports, 69 million people use the Internet in India, and according to an estimate, 39 million people conduct some form of online transaction.

At the start of the pandemic, insurance companies paid a lot of attention to technology to provide facilities for their sales team and customer service team. It has seen an increase over time as there are many digital platforms available such as website, mobile app and WhatsApp. eKYC and digital payments have made the entire sales process much easier.

AI has helped develop financial processes and products that run on robust analytics. They provide better monitoring, control and flexibility, as well as a better understanding of the results. Advances in natural language processing (NLP) and speech recognition technology have aided in the development of voice bots, which will soon become an integral part of BFSI’s customer service strategy.

It is believed that AI and predictive analytics will continue to be in vogue in the coming years as well. Apart from this, insurance companies will seek to strengthen processes such as claims settlement and underwriting with the help of technology. At Shriram Life, we can resolve untimely death claims in remote rural areas within 12 hours. The focus will remain on improving TATs and developing robust processes throughout the customer journey.

• Product development

1. Customers want better personalization and purpose-built products.

With the change in the insurance landscape and the adoption of technology, customer expectations of insurance products have completely changed. While traditional products will continue to be relevant, there has been a huge increase in demand and focus on solutions based on customer needs. Insurance companies are looking for new categories of customers and there is a growing need to innovate and customize products for these segments. The growing interest in insurance among young people has also led to a change in product development, as young people seek more value when buying insurance products.

• IRDA perspective on recent developments

The regulator has taken some proactive steps to accelerate the growth of the industry. Various regulatory requirements have been simplified, while guidelines have been relaxed to allow for capital appreciation, among other things. Recent moves, such as the expansion of distribution agreements for corporate agents, will allow insurance companies to offer more products, thus giving customers more choice.

• Expectations from the year 2023

There is a lot of potential for growth in insurance in India. The sector is constantly innovating and adopting technology to reach new markets and the prospects for the coming years are very positive. The industry has recovered a good pace after the pandemic and we expect the growth trend to continue. Although some macroeconomic factors have impacted recent growth and cannot be ignored, the overall outlook for the industry looks positive.

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