United India Insurance Company Ltd is planning to enter the SAARC and the Gulf markets for general insurance during the course of this year The company has also initiated talks with the Life Insurance Corporation of India to offer a combo product of life and general insurance.
Milind Kharat, Chairman-cum-Managing Director of UIIC recently said that UIIC was eyeing the SAARC countries and the West Asian markets. It was looking at the local regulations and once the plans were finalised it would seek IRDA’s approval. At present, UIIC was intending to go it alone though it was not averse to joining hands with any other insurance player and initially it planned to open one
office each in SAARC region and in West Asia this year. The company has planned to open 531 micro offices across the country in tier IV towns and also has planned to bolster the sales force by adding about 15,000 new agents to
promote its products which he felt would help UIIC to achieve its growth plans despite economy under stress with automobile sales continuing to decline.