The BIMTECH Insurance Colloquium 2019 witnessed a very intense and animated discussion among industry captains, thought leaders and renowned academicians on the theme “Deciphering the Emerging Marketing Scenario”. The colloquium was recently organized by the Programme of Insurance Business Management, BIMTECH at the Mumbai Cricket association (MCA) Recreation Centre in Mumbai.
In his welcome address, Dr. Harivansh Chaturvedi, Director, BIMTECH articulated about the impact of fast demographic changes sweeping the economy. He felt that there ware twin challenges that need immediate attention. The first challenge is how to fulfil the emerging aspirations of the millennial generation and the second challenge is to ensure that senior citizens live happy, healthy and comfortable.
He also pointed out how the mindset of the people had changed over the last 20 years. Initially they considered Insurance only a tax saving tool and invested in real estate sector instate, whereas now they are carefully planning the various financial security options. India lags far behind when it comes to providing social security to its senior citizens, compared to the European Nations. He exhorted the Indian Insurers to expand and explore through Ayushman Bharat to provide geriatric health care.
In his theme address, Mr. Sakate Khaitan, Senior Partner-Khaitan Legal Associates, and Member- Board of Governors-BIMTECH reminded the august audience how everything around them was changing be it was the economy, the technology or the society at large. He wondered whether we were moving in the right direction. He felt that the society from Indian context was on transition from rural -agrarian societies to urban industrialised and service based societies. “Post digitalisation, the silent decay of joint families system has had and will have the most reverberating impact on all facets of life in years to come and the ones, on the receiving end of this tectonic shift is the older generation and the younger generation. I wonder if we are expressing enough concern over the rising instances of neglect of elders and rapid proliferation of nuclear families coupled with urbanization of the society. In India, the effect of this disintegration of joint family system has led to intergenerational bonds to weaken. The growth of the youth and the elderly are mutually aligned. The elders are the custodians of righteousness, traditions, family honour and wisdom. It is the responsibility of the present generation or the children of the family to play a greater role to ensure the welfare of the elderly persons”. He said.
He further added, “The major concern is the health and financial security of the rural population and for this situation; Ayushman Bharat has proven to be boon for such people. There is strong need for providing long term palliative care to the elderly”.
Mr. Nilesh Sathe, former member (Life), IRDAI in his Keynote speech maintained that the biggest challenge before the insurance industry was that of ‘Trust Deficit’. He was of the view that issue of misselling, economic instability along with falling interest rate would impact the industry. He felt that the problem of solvency can be addressed by injecting more capital. The regulator is considering a low solvency ratio for a less risky business like health insurance. The issue of persistency still hurts the life insurance companies. “Although, it has improved over the years, it is still way behind the expectations. The basic purpose of insurance companies is to reduce protection gap, in other words, provide more protection to customers..,” he added. He felt that there was huge scope for insurance to grow as a result of increased longevity and per capita income, coupled with better understanding of insurance.
The first panel discussion was on “India’s millennial insurance market- capturing or seizing the full potential”. While moderating the panel discussion, Prof K. K. Krishnan, set the discussion rolling by capturing the moods of the Millennial with the punch line ‘Papa don’t preach’.
The definition of Millennial was exquisitely explained to the audience by Mr. Vijay Sinha, MD & CEO, DHFL General Insurance Co. “The Gen Y has technology in its hands, so the internet plays a major role in influencing the millennial and helps them significantly in their decision making roles. The millennials are called so, as they tend to ask a lot of WHYs. An ecosystem needs to be developed with strong online reviews, to think about reaching them wherever they are,” added Mr. Sinha.
Mr. Syed Moinuddin Ahmed, Additional MD and CS at Green Delta Insurance CO. Ltd. Bangladesh, while sharing his views on brand engagement felt, “In Bangladesh the millennial are more impulsive and also anxious because they have little bit of everything. They like to relate themselves to success and for doing so; the brand needs to engage with the millennial in whatever way possible, like not just creating advertisements but also creating stories engaging with millennial, igniting ideas in them, challenging them, and then giving them a platform to deliver. They are born in a nation which is growing rapidly and has an emerging middle income group. They don’t have to struggle unlike their previous generations, as a result, they are unaware of what struggle actually means. They assume that whatever they wish for, will come to them easily”.
“Millennial today believe in what we call FIRE i.e. Financial Independence and Retire Early. They are also called the YOLO generation that says You Live Only Once. They believe in increasing their net worth as early as possible. The millennials are of the opinion of now or never and they like to experience new things…,” Argued Ms. Archana Vaze, Assistant Professor & Head-Content Development, College of Insurance. Insurance Institute of India.
Dr. Bigyan Verma, Director SIES College of Management Studies shared his views on millennial by quoting, “The millennials would only listen to Gen X when there was experiential sharing. In order to better understand them well one must need to talk to them in their own language and connect with them on common grounds.”
Mr. Arun Agarwal, Independent Director, Kotak Mahindra General Insurance Co. Ltd and well known Thought Leader strongly felt that the millennials were not only technology savvy but were highly conscious generation. “I still feel these millennials are Technology savvy and are highly conscious people. A lot can be achieved by collaborating with them as they are highly capable. They are not really disillusioned but want to do a great deal of things for the world and for the society,” He added.
Dr. Abhijit K. Chattoraj, Chairperson-PGDM-IBM, moderated the second panel discussion on India’s Geriatric Insurance Market: Need to Explore and Expand Through Ayushman Bharat. He initiated the discussion by stating that the geriatric population wanted to age with grace and dignity and should not be subjected to neglect. “With increasing longevity and declining fertility, the older population is expected to grow exponentially in times to come. The elderly population is likely to be the bigger problem in terms of its sheer size and magnitude. It would be interesting to know how Ayushman Bharat would deal with geriatric health care problem in days to come,” He quizzed.
“The geriatric healthcare is the need of the hour. The challenges faced by the ageing group were the twin challenges of perception and aspiration. The informal homecare system which was historically available in the past is not available to today due to disintegration of joint families. However, there is great disconnect today with the advent of nuclear families. The society expects geriatric assurance over geriatric Insurance to address the geriatric healthcare woes comprehensively. The Indian Insurance Industry has a long way to go on this count. There is policy challenge as the society needs to develop some other kind of support that can take care of the geriatric healthcare needs,” articulated Mr. Girish Rao, MD Healthcare at Vidal Health Insurance TPA Pvt. Ltd.
Mr. Mayank Bathwal, CEO OF Aditya Birla Health Insurance Co. Ltd maintained that the need for geriatric health insurance product was obvious unlike other types of insurance. Taking inferences drawn from his own organization’s Mr. Bathwal pointed out three clear needs essential for the geriatric population i.e. physiological needs, financial needs and emotional needs. “The core focus till now has been on hospitalisation .But the time has come to go for a holistic offering integrating all the above mentioned needs. My company recently rolled out a ground-breaking product for this segment by introducing the concept of a health coach who would be working with the geriatric population more like a companion rather than a doctor with a view to engaging with the geriatric population,” he said.
Mr. Joydeep Roy, Global leader- Insurance Digitals Assets and Leader Insurance Practice- India at PWC, felt that the provisions for geriatric healthcare should not start when we have already reached the geriatric age, rather should start as early as possible so as to build a sizeable corpus to address healthcare needs later on.”The provisions for geriatric healthcare should start as early as possible so as to build a sizeable corpus to address healthcare needs later on. There is great need for Health savings in India The problem in India is that an average Indian starts planning for pension at the age of 43 and a half, whereas a country like Korea, most people start it at the age of 27 and a half. The average age of India is 28 and we are likely to live longer, therefore, the planning for healthcare should also come early”. He further added, “We should build on culturally appropriate practices already in vogue to address the healthcare needs of the geriatric population.
“In the first year of implementation of PM-JAY over 46 lakh claims have already been raised of which more than 6 lakh claims are coming from the geriatric population.
Both pillars of Ayushman Bharat-Health and wellness centres and PM-JAY are focussed on providing comprehensive healthcare across the entire continuum for the poorest of the poor of all ages. The HWC model includes home health, telemedicine, counselling and community based models for primary care and diagnostics which are vital for the elderly while PM-JAY covers secondary and tertiary care such as cardiology, oncology, knee replacements, renal disorders and cataract surgery- procedures which are mostly availed by elderly population. Currently PM-JAY covers 40% of India’s population – those who were often excluded from private insurance due to their limited financial means or high risk due to pre-existing medical conditions. In the first year of implementation of PM-JAY, over 46 lakh claims have already been raised – of which more than 6 lakh claims came from the geriatric population. These numbers would only continue to grow as the scheme evolves and expands over time,” mentioned Ms. Naib Consultant at World Bank and Associated with NHA.
Dr. Shreeraj Deshpande, Chief Operating Officer Future Generali India Insurance Co.Ltd maintained that the major challenge when a government was providing a voluntary health care/insurance arrangement relate to pricing the product adequately. The lack of health savings account, long term health care products and lack of cross subsidization are major hurdles in providing holistic Geriatric Health and Wellness benefits to the unorganized and Impoverished sections of the society.
Mr. K Murali, Group Head- Insurance RPG Group, felt that unless the practices, protocol and pricing happen in case of hospitalization, unless home care and generics get regulated, Insurance companies will not be able to adequately insure and price the products which are to be delivered at home, OPDs and hospitals. “It is not only the medical component that needs to be looked for but also the non- medical component that affects the overall health package offering,” he stated.
BIMTECH regularly acknowledges outstanding contributions in the field of Insurance, BIMTECH by conferring Life Time Achievement Awards to eminent professionals from the industry. During this colloquium, it honoured Mr. M. Ramaprasad – former member, IRDAI (Non- Life) was conferred with the Lifetime Achievement Award for his outstanding and exemplary contribution to growth of the Indian insurance industry. “I owe whatever I could do in my entire career is mainly because I think I had the great opportunity to work with very good people. The main thing is that what we know, what you have learnt, we should pass on to the next generation in the right way so that you are able to develop the next generation to take care of this industry in a much better way,” Quipped Mr. Ramaprasad after receiving the award.
Mr. K. K. Mishra, former CEO & MD – Tata AIG General Insurance Co. Ltd., praised Mr. Ramaprasad for his great leadership qualities. Mr. B. D. Banerjee, former Chairman and Managing Director of -The Oriental Insurance Co.Ltd maintained that Mr. Ramaprasad richly deserved the honour.
The Insurance Times and Chartered Insurance Institute – India was the Journal Partner and Education Partner respectively of this colloquium.
