Suresh Agarwal, MD & CEO at Kotak General Insurance Company and Animesh Das, Senior Director, Motor Underwriting at ACKO General Insurance, reveal the details about the vehicle insurance business scenario:
Ravi Lalwani: Which are the top 3 states for the company’s vehicle insurance business? Which 3 states have shown the fastest growth? What is the premium growth rate for various types of vehicles in the last 12 months?
Suresh: The top 3 states for KGI’s vehicle insurance business comprise Delhi NCR, Maharashtra and Gujarat. These 3 states/region accounts for over half of KGI’s gross written premium for motor insurance.
Animesh: Karnataka, Maharashtra and Delhi are the largest markets for ACKO. We have seen Telangana and Tamil Nadu markets catching the pace. ACKO has curated an easy purchase option for the new car buyers along with ‘zero commission’ pricing which reduces the premium significantly and makes the car more affordable. In addition to this, ACKO is developing new products for the EV ecosystem. Both these segments have seen higher growth for us.
What is the ratio of vehicle insurance premium to overall premium in FY 22? How has this ratio changed over the last few years?
Suresh: Vehicle insurance contributed to 53% of the total written premium in FY 22. Over, the years we have tried to create a balanced portfolio without over-dependence on the motor.
Animesh: 50% of ACKO’s business is attributed to auto insurance. We have been growing rapidly in other verticals like the health and embedded insurance segment.
What new data points have been introduced from the perspective of business, risk, and claims?
Suresh: The new data points introduced from the business, risk, and claim perspective are gender and credit score.
Briefly describe the pace of transformation.
Animesh: Last year, we touched almost Rs10 billion of premium. The company is focused on giving the best experience to the users through quick buying to claim settlement. We ensure that most claims are settled within 24 hours post-filing. Today, we are one of the insurtechs which provides the fastest claim settlements in the motor insurance category and the direct engagement model empowers the company to pass cost benefits to its customers.
Looking specifically at health, ACKO plans to launch a Rs10 million retail health insurance plan that addresses the healthcare needs of customers more holistically at a competitive premium. We have also launched 10+ new products for different customer requirements. We continue to focus on such metrics along with growth & risk.
Who are your key technology partners associated with vehicle insurance?
Suresh: We have partners across the technology spectrum from heavyweights such as TCS to fintech players such as InspectLabs.
Animesh: Most of the service and development concerning tech is done in-house by ACKO. This ensures better design and quality control for products and ensures greater experiences for our users. We are working with partners like Amazon and other major e-commerce brands for product distribution.
Briefly describe recent innovations in the internal and external operations in the division.
Suresh: The team has endeavoured to design and implement a lean process to ensure minimal manual intervention along with optimal controls inbuilt into the system. We have taken the key projects like partner portal- to take policy issuance and service transaction on a self-service mode. Vehicle inspection processing by use of AI. Also, the team has been driven by an objective to provide innovation to the customer in terms of offering and ease of accessibility which has been achieved by tie-up with insure-techs to make products available at the click of a button and introducing new age products like ‘Pay as You Drive.’
Animesh: We have added a lot of efficiency to the claims process. Now all the product’s claim processes are made simple, and customers can check updates on the ACKO app for the status of their claims. A lot of new features are also added to the app for convenience. The auto team primarily focuses on product innovation which simplifies the buying journey and servicing experience of the users. The team keeps working on the issues faced by the users and bridges the gap to deliver the best industry experience. We have been consistently working towards offering innovative products which cater to the digital buyers of insurance. Talking about customer experience, ACKO goes beyond asset data to leveraging insights emerging from customer behavioural data to define customized premiums.
Read more:
- OTT – a powerful tool to contextualize content
- Ambit Finvest: Navigating Growth with Transformation
- New Products, Better Recommendations & Smoother CX
- An insurtech within a bank
