HDFC ERGO General Insurance has the largest bancassurance channel in the industry today and its geographical expansion across urban and rural India has been a key growth strategy and the company has increased its branch presence from 107 to the current 122 branches across 106 cities as of March 2018. Giving out these details in an interaction with Banking Frontiers, Samir Shah, ED & CFO of the company, says the company issued 789,908 policies in rural areas in the last financial year as compared to 632,452 policies the previous year. “Going forward, we plan to continue to deepen our reach by establishing our presence in new markets and consolidating our presence in existing markets,” says he.
Shah says as the company realized that customers are increasingly favoring and adopting services through the digital platform, it has completely transformed its business model into a digital platform. In 2018, it has undertaken a number of IT & digital initiatives. The notable among these is a unique one-stop platform on the IPO (Insurance Portfolio Organizer) App, which allows individuals to manage their health and well-being using their smartphones.
The my:health services allows individuals to booking a doctor’s appointment, get diet and physical exercise plans, check their health risk assessment and much more. The company also has an AI-enabled chatbot called DIA, which is a voice-based service that offers customers a more intuitive way to interact with the company and get instant responses to all their queries. Says Shah: “This has enabled us to deliver a superior customer service experience. DIA is available on Amazon Alexa, Google Home and our website for consumers to interact with us.”
– Mehul Dani, [email protected]
