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BASIX Celebrates 10 Years Of Livelihood Promotion And Protection In Rural India With Aviva And Royal Sundaram Alliance
• Launches the retail model for insurance in rural India through BASIX branches and Common Service Centres (CSC)
• 1,200 CSCs across 2 states and 60 branches across 9 states will sell insurance by March 2013
• Online microinsurance sale and claim settlement through scanned images for the first time in India
• Insured over 35 lakh lives through the decade long association with Aviva
• Covered over 11 lakh household under Livestock, Health, Personal Accident and Enterprise insurance offered by Royal Sundaram
• Settled over 27,000 life claims worth Rs 50 cr and 1.27 lakh general insurance claims worth Rs 29 cr
• Aviva launches financial literacy drive through a roadshow for rural India – “Khushiya di Gaddi’
• New initiatives launched aimed at providing better service to existing and prospective customers
November 23, 2012, New Delhi: BASIX Group, today celebrated a decade of association with Aviva Life Insurance and Royal Sundaram Alliance General Insurance (RSA) for microinsurance. BASIX partnered Aviva and RSA in 2002 to increase insurance penetration in rural India and therefore promote the government agenda of financial inclusion. BASIX along with its life insurance partner Aviva has till date insured 35 lakh rural lives and settled 27,000 claims worth Rs 50 cr. Aviva has also introduced a unique real-time and faster claim settlement process. With its general insurance partner – Royal Sundaram, it has insured over 11 lakh rural households and settled claims to the tune of Rs. 29 cr.
On this occasion, BASIX, Aviva and RSA announced the launch of retail model for sale of insurance products. These will be available through the BASIX branches, which provide Livelihood Promotion Services and also through their network of Common Service Centres (CSC), which provide G2C services along with utility services to the rural population at their doorstep and at an affordable cost. Together they plan to introduce this model in 60 branches and 1,200 CSCs across 11 states by March 2013. Aviva and RSA have trained over 300 BASIX employees and assisted with the IRDA certification and launched the retail business with BASIX for the first time in rural India offering protection and savings linked products like Aviva Dhan Vriddhi and Aviva Life Shield Advantage. They also offer General Insurance products – Rural Hospital Cash, Rural Personal Accident/Janta Personal Accident, Livestock Shield and Rural Enterprise Shield.
The Founder and CEO of the BASIX Group Mr Vijay Mahajan said "All of us face risks but the poor can be wiped out by the financial loss caused by an adverse event. Thus, insurance is very important for the lives and livelihoods of the poor. BASIX is lucky to have had a wonderful partner for life insurance Aviva. Together we have covered over 4 million lives of poor people over the last 10 years. Likewise, BASIX has worked with Royal Sundaram to offer hospitalisation and livestock insurance to millions. The benefits to our customers can be judged by the fact that over 150,000 claims have been settled. The uptake of individual policies as against group Credit Plus is increasing. We expect to cover one million customers through on-line insurance in 2013 with the help of our partner insurance companies Aviva and Royal Sundaram.”
Mr. T.R Ramachandran, MD & CEO, Aviva Life Insurance said, “We are proud to be associated with BASIX as a preferred partner for the last 10 years. We were amongst the first private insurers in India to have identified the opportunity to popularize insurance for the benefit of the rural community as a whole. BASIX’s immense knowledge of the rural market coupled with Aviva’s best in class products and services has helped us achieve this goal to a great extent. We see the rural sector as an opportunity as 72% of the population hails from rural India of which only 5% are covered by insurance. We are committed to help BASIX achieve its mission of protecting lives, promoting livelihoods and financial inclusion.”
Mr. Ramachandran added, “Aviva and Basix are launching a financial literacy drive in rural Punjab to cover close to 100 villages through a mobile van – Khushiya di Gaddi in December ‘12. The main objective is to spread financial awareness and education through various innovative activities.”
Mr. Ajay Bimbhet, MD, Royal Sundaram said, “We strongly believe that insurance is one of the fundamental needs to safeguard and improve the quality of rural life. We are committed in our endeavor to address the specific needs of rural India with an array of specially designed products at an affordable premium. Basix has been an ideal partner as they have enduring relationships, enjoy tremendous trust and goodwill and has a deep understanding of the rural market. We see a vast opportunity in rural India and our rural business has been one of the key pillars which has constantly contributed more than 10 percent of the total premium”
Further, Royal Sundaram is the first in India to offer ‘Online Rural Health Insurance policy, through Basix CSC locations in Maharashtra. Mr. Bimbhet added, “We will extend our online offering to other rural retail products by January 2013. Our strategy has been to increase efficiency and reduce distribution cost by usage of technology along with after-sales services.”
Enquiries:
Media:
BASIX Group – Vishali, +919912172200, vishali@basixindia.com
Aviva India – Pooja Khan, +919811315510, pooja.khan@avivaindia.com
Royal Sundaram – Smita Mathur. +91 9840857663, Smita.Mathur@royalsundaram.in
About BASIX:
The BASIX Group is a conglomerate of financial and knowledge based social enterprises co-promoted by Vijay Mahajan in 1996. Over the years, the BASIX Group has promoted and supported several livelihood focused institutions such as BSFL, Krishna Bhima Samruddhi Local Area Bank (KBSLAB), CTRAN Consulting Services Ltd., BASIX Academy for Building Lifelong Employability (B-ABLE), BASIX Krishi Samruddhi Ltd., BASIX Sub-K iTransactions Ltd., BASIX Consulting and Training Services Ltd., and Group Affiliates Indian Grameen Services and The Livelihood School.
BASIX is the pioneer of micro insurance business in the country and has serviced over 3.5 million micro insurance customers in a commercially sustainable manner.
BSFL has set up more than 4000 CSCs in five states of Meghalaya, Tripura, Odisha, Punjab and Maharashtra. CSCs are last-mile rural access points equipped with Modern IT infrastructure, broadband connectivity, and national programs could be effectively delivered through an IT and web-enabled network that is managed by trained entrepreneurs. Such access points can drive tremendous synergies to Government’s developmental initiatives in the areas of education, agriculture, health and rural development.
About Aviva:
• Aviva is the world’s sixth largest* insurance group, serving over 53 million customers across Europe, North America and Asia Pacific
• Aviva's main business activities are long-term savings, fund management and general insurance, with worldwide total sales of £47.1 billion and funds under management of £402 billion at 31 December 2010. We are the largest insurance services provider in the UK and one of the leading providers of life and pensions products in Europe.
• Aviva India is a joint venture between Dabur Group and Aviva Group. Current paid up capital amounts to Rs 2,004 crore. Dabur Group is the 74% shareholder while Aviva Group holds 26%. Aviva Group is a UK based insurance company and one of the world’s oldest insurance Groups, with a history dating back to 1696.
• Aviva’s products have been designed to provide customers flexibility, transparency and value for money. We address all lifecycle needs of a customer – savings, protection, investment and retirement.
• Aviva is the global bancassurance leader and in majority of our countries, bancassurance is the only distribution channel. In India too, we pioneered the concept of Bancassurance.
• In the 2011 FTSE4Good index, Aviva is recognised as the top insurance company for corporate responsibility in the world, out of more than 100 other organisations in our sector. The Reputation Institute’s 2011 rankings, also place Aviva as the UK’s “most reputable” financial services company.
• Aviva is also keen to reach out to the underprivileged that have not had access to insurance so far. Through our association with BASIX (a micro financial institution) and other NGOs, we have been able to cover millions of lives.
• The Aviva media centre at www.avivaindia.com/media includes images, company and product information and a news release archive
• Follow us on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=2361831622#!/educationisinsurance
*based on gross worldwide premiums at 31 December 2009
About Royal Sundaram:
Royal Sundaram Alliance Insurance Company Limited is a joint venture between Sundaram Finance and Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance plc, UK, where the former holds 74% and the latter holds 26% of the equity. Royal Sundaram is the first private non-life Insurance Company licensed to operate in India.
Royal Sundaram offers a range of innovative general Insurance products which includes Motor, Health, Personal Accident, Home and Travel Insurance for individual customers. The Company’s Accident & Health claims process received ISO 9001-2008 certification for effective customer service delivery. For Commercial clients, Royal Sundaram offers a wide range of specialised insurance covers in Fire, Marine, Engineering, Liability and Business Interruption risks. Royal Sundaram also offers specially designed products to the Small and Medium enterprises and Rural customers. Royal Sundaram currently has over 5 million customers, 1700 employees and its products are distributed in over 180 cities across India, through Agents, Distribution Partners, Affinity Partners and Brokers.
About Sundaram Finance
Sundaram Finance, a Non-Banking Finance Company, is one of the most respected financial services companies in India. It finances the entire range of commercial vehicles, passenger cars, construction equipment & tractors. The Group's operations also extend to Insurance, Asset Management, Home loans, Business Process outsourcing and Infotech Solutions. Sundaram Finance has a Nationwide presence with over 500 branches and over half a million customers and depositors who are serviced by over 4000 employees.
About RSA
With a 300 year heritage, RSA is one of the world’s leading multinational quoted insurance groups. It has the capability to write business in around 140 countries and major operations in the UK, Ireland, Scandinavia, Central and Eastern Europe, Canada, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America. Focusing on general insurance, it has around 23,000 employees and, in 2011, its net written premiums were £8.1 billion.