LIC owns about 15% in Axis Bank, but now it’s pushing Axis bank to sell insurance policies through its more than 2,500 branches, testing its existing partnership with Max Life.
“We are in talks with Axis Bank to sell LIC’s products through their branches,” said an executive at the country’s largest financial institution. If Axis Bank begins the work, it would be an opening that could lead to several such tie-ups in the future as a new rule permits banks to tie up with more than one insurance company.
But that could be a drawback for those like Max Life which already have an alliance to sell their products exclusively.
LIC, which gets less than 5% premium income through banks, would immensely benefit if Axis agrees since banks are key growth drivers. Other insurers get as much as a quarter of their overall new premium income selling via banks. The share of banks in new business was 20.84% for the private sector industry in 2014-15, data from the insurance regulator shows.
