The Indian personal and health insurance market is expected to grow to $350 million in five years, according to Christophe N Di Sipio, senior vice-president, Chubb & Son.
Chubb has a joint venture with Housing Development Finance Corporation and hopes to garner 15-20 per cent of the market, based on the existing competition, said Steve Warren, vice-president, accident and health, Asia Pacific zone, Chubb Group of Insurance Companies.
Based on latest available data, the accidental death rate in India is 22.2 per 100,000 lives. Accidents today are the fifth largest cause of deaths worldwide, with heart diseases being the leading cause.
Others include cancer, strokes and respiratory illnesses. Of the total 3.8 million accidental deaths worldwide, 1.4 million are on account of road accidents, and 1.1 million as a result of occupational deaths.
These worldwide statistics released by Chubb further point out that 320 million injuries take place as a result of accidents, whereby the policyholder ends up with an injury that lays him off work even for a day.
Despite the high rate of accidents, accident insurance is treated as an incidental cover and not as a major focus area by many, Warren said.
In the case of UK for instance, greater number of accidental deaths take place at home, while South Africa has one of the highest murder rates in the world resulting in accidental death.
Majority of accidental deaths are on account of road accidents, where the trend has been changing from country to country. In England and Japan there has been a steady decline in road accidents.
However, in Poland with the rising number of vehicles plying on the roads, deaths due to road accidents have increased.
"Traffic accidents to be a leading cause of death in India on account of the geographical spread. The time spend in some form of transport or the other is far more higher than say in Singapore," said Warren.
Despite the rising reinsurance cost for this line of coverage, India continues to be a soft market, primarily because of the increased competition, said Warren.
"With the de-regulation and subsequent entry of private players, India is a softer market compared to its other counterparts," he pointed out.
Buying a personal accident cover is about five to 10 times more affordable than buying a life insurance cover, Warren said. For instance, an individual could pay as little as Rs 50-75 monthly for a coverage of Rs 10 lakh (Rs 1 million). This is works out far cheaper when one builds in the age factor that is necessary in underwriting life risks.
HDFC Chubb, which commenced operations in mid October with the sale of motor insurance policies, has sold 3,000 motor insurance policies, mopping up a premium income of Rs 2.5 crore, Shrirang V Samant, CEO, said.
After launching auto insurance, HDFC Chubb has come out with personal accident cover, which offers child marriage and education riders.
This is unique to the Indian culture as apart from the base personal accident sum assured, the child will get a benefit in his/her name in the event of the guardian's death or disablement to finance the child's education or take care of his/hers marriage, Gautam Bhagat, national accident & health manager, HDFC Chubb, said.
"It is the aspirations of the Indian middle-class on the marriage of their children that is unique to India and has been incorporated in the core product in the form of a rider," Warren said.
HDFC Chubb has various riders in the Indian market that are unique and new to India. The personal accident product will initially not be marketed to individuals directly, but be sold through affinity groups and employer-employee groups.
Aside from marketing directly to corporate India, HDFC Chubb will shortly offer cover to individual home loan borrowers of HDFC.
