Birla Sun Life Insurance (BSLI) one of the largest private life insurers is gearing itself to take advantage of the vast rural opportunity that has opened up as a result of the revised definition of rural areas by the IRDA. Over the last 6 years BSLI has painstakingly built its rural infrastructure to create a cost effective distribution network across the country.

BSLI launched its rural operations from the Hindalco unit at Renukoot, which was chosen as the “Model Setup”. Hindalco’s well-developed rural network and its well trained Village Extension Workers (VEW) were an ideal launch pad for the rural business. Additionally seven more units of the Aditya Birla Group (ABG) were added to the network in the states of U.P., Jharkhand, Orissa, Rajasthan and M.P.

With the IRDA revising the definition of rural areas the total population falling into the category of rural has increased from 42% to 72% and BSLI is best placed amongst all the private players to reap the benefits.

The Micro Insurance regulations introduced by IRDA in 2005 will ensure that insurance becomes affordable & accessible to the rural populace. BSLI has already started work on Micro • Insurance with its product development team designing micro products based on the feed back received from rural areas.

To further increase its reach in rural areas, BSLI has entered into tie-ups with some of the largest NGOs across India, which are doing excellent, work in the rural areas. These tie-ups ensure that the benefit of insurance reaches the people who require it the most.

BSLI has also been selling policies through its branch network to bolster its reach in the rural areas.

Over the last six years BSLI through its distribution partners has reached close to 2956 villages in 61 districts and across 15 states in the country.

The company improved its presence in the rural areas through branch network using “Concentric Circle” approach. A total of 48 branches have been identified to implement this rural strategy. Each of these selected branches had identified high potential rural locations in the first concentric circle within a radius of 50-100 kms for carrying out rural business. Rural Agency Managers have been appointed who in turn have advisors under them to sell BSLI’s policy.

BSLI has been consistently exceeding its rural targets since the first year of its operations. In the last fiscal, the company sold 63,934 policies in the rural areas, which constituted nearly 24% of the total individual policies sold by the company. The table below illustrates the rural performance of BSLI since inception.

Financial Year   Total Policies Sold

   2001-02                   2005
   2002-03                  10421
   2003-04                  25893
   2004-05                  48128
   2005-06                  63934
 

In the current year too we have kept up with our momentum and have already completed our social obligation. The figures for this year (till date) are as follows: 

The social lives covered to date exceed the annual target of 25000 lives for the current fiscal year.

With the increasing affluence in the rural areas, the company aims to achieve about 20% of its rural sales through its savings linked policies.

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Sourced From: Concept Public Relations India Pvt. Ltd

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