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India becomes spawning ground for global microinsurance products
The Economic Times, 10 August 2010
The poor need insurance. This was the mantra — learnt first in India — with which Allianz set out to launch its global microinsurance business, first in Indonesia, and then in Egypt, Colombia, Ivory Coast and nine African nations. Now, almost four years after it exported its first microinsurance product out of India, Allianz is shipping out a new mantra: the poor need savings first.
Allianz’s India JV, Bajaj Allianz, launched the savings-linked microinsurance scheme, Swayam Shakti Suraksha, in April 2008, in association with SKS Microfinance. The scheme, with a minimum premium of only Rs 20 ($0.43) per week, already has over 2.5 million customers, 99% of them women. "It is nothing but phenomenal," says Michael Anthony, global head of microinsurance projects, Allianz. For a premium of only Rs 35 ($0.75) per week over a period of five years, customers receive Rs 13,200 in case of natural death and Rs 33,900 in case of accidental death. If unclaimed, the deposit is refunded with interest after five years.
The global microinsurance scene is full of small, local and national players. Allianz, along with American International Group, or AIG, and Zurich Financial Services are the few that have major plans worldwide. AIG, in fact, entered the microinsurance fray as early as 1997 in Uganda, tying up with microfinance institution Finca Uganda. It is now present in South Africa, besides India. Zurich launched group-wide microinsurance initiatives in 2007 and it serves over one million customers in countries across Africa, Latin America, and through its partners in China, according to its website.
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