A PROJECT REPORTON

TITLE“Agency recruitment at ICICI PRUDENTIAL Life Insurance Company”

Submitted to

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Education and learning knows no bars or inhibitions. It is rather a never-ending process.

Similarly after completing almost one year in MBA from I.M.S., B.J.S.R. Jain College, Bikaner, the study

conducted by me as part of my course curriculum has proved an exceptional enhancement of knowledge

and learning for me.

The completion of the project would not have been possible without the help of some persons.

Without their contribution, the study could not have been comprehensive and a profound one.

At the very outset, I sincerely thank my faculty guide Dr , Director Mr. S.K JAIN,,

Faculty whose continuous support and guidance proved an effective impetus to my study.

I am greatly indebted to my project guide Mr. SAURABH SHARMA branch Manager for

their help and encouragement.

I would also like to thank my family and my friends for their guidance and support, which

helped me in every step during the course of my study.

Above all, I thank god for his blessings without which I would not have been able to complete

my project.

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TO WHOM SO EVER IT MAY CONCERN

It is to certify that monica rathorehas undertaken his summer training at

ICICI PRUDENTIAL,bikaner. He has completed his summer training project

on the topic “Agency recruitment at ICICI Life Insurance Company” under

my supervision and guidance.

To the best of my knowledge his work is genuine and satisfactory. I wish

him all the best in his future endeavors.

(Asst. Professor)

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ABSTRACT

In the insurance industry, there are two channels of distribution- Alternate Distribution and Tide Agency.

Advisor Recruitment is the part of Tide Agency.

My project is about agency recruitment & channel distribution of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance. It

means company is recruiting advisors for expanding its business. Company adopts chain marketing as a

methodology for expansion.

In this project, I have to make a cold call to the target market, get the appointment with them, convince

them & close the sale positively. The queries, which are asked by the client, should be solved by the

discussion with the company guide.

……ICICI Prudential is immensely concentrating on the agency recruitment. It has 53000 advisors and it

is planning to extend this number to 73000 by the end of the year 2007-08.

For recruiting advisors, ICICI Prudential holds many activities like- they do direct marketing for

recruiting advisors, they also recruit the management trainees for recruiting advisors, they also hold

seminar and also include stall activities etc.

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

“Agency recruitment at ICICI PRUDENTIAL LIFE INSURANCE

COMPANY”

MAIN OBJECTIVES:

To study recruitment process at ICICI PRUDENTIAL LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY.

To study the current life insurance market scenario.

To study and formulate necessary criteria required being successful life advisors and

offering necessary suggestions to the company.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:

Research Plan:

For the purpose of study of Agency recruitment at ICICI PRUDENTIAL life insurance

Company, the researcher has given BOP, telephonic conversations to the people for recruitment.

For studying the current insurance market scenario, an exhaustive study and compilation

of report was done from the data provided by the company form their database besides using

other sources like yellow pages, reference data.

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For studying the necessary criteria required to be a successful life advisor, a study was

made on the topic of analyzing the current set of criteria set up the company for recruiting the

Life Advisors.

Sources of Data:

Source of primary data

1. Natural Market

Relatives

Friends

Neighbors

2. Stall Operation

3. Survey

4.Seminar (Focus Group)

Source of Secondary Data

1. Yellow Pages

2. Database of different companies LI\GI Agents

3. Telecalling leads

4. Reference data.

Contact method:

Initially, the instructions given by the company were to work on natural market Company, i.e.

relatives, friends, neighbors or the known ones. But being new to the city, this constraint of not having the

natural market was there. One of the methods used in recruitment was to call people from Yellow Pages

and take their appointments. Once the meeting is fixed with that person, then a B.O.P i.e. Business

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Opportunity Presentation has to be given to him. This presentation helps to a great extent in making that

person know about the Company, the benefits that he/she will get in getting associated with the Company.

It just happens sometimes that a person might not concentrate on what is being told to him but when that

person looks at that presentation it becomes easy to convince him as he is focused on the facts and figures

mentioned in the presentation.

Another method that can be followed to recruit agents for the company is that of leads which are given by

the Company. These are those people who have shown their interest in having the agency to the

telecallers. Once those people are interested, an appointment has to be fixed with them and explain them

in detail about the agency business and answering their queries.

The third method that can be followed is that of making cold calls to corporate offices, shops or those

people whom a student feels can become advisors or who might be interested in becoming advisors. Here,

the duty is to tell them about agency business, what they will get out of it and finally closing the deal. If

they still have some queries or questions which could not be answered at that point of time, then they are

requested to visit our office so that they may enquire about their doubts from Unit Managers and thus

making them satisfied that their association with the Company is something which they will not regret.

This method is also called PROSPECTING.

Training

At ICICI Prudential, the importance is given to training in a dynamic business environment. The

advisors go through both generic and specific, professional programs that help them remain well informed

and knowledgeable about the company’s products in the market. There is a further focus on soft skills

such as communication, managing long-term relationships and selling skills, which are very relevant in a

service-driven industry like life insurance.

 

State of the art infrastructure training facilities coupled with an excellent faculty, guarantee an exceptional

learning environment. For advisors who might be occupied with their daily business/professional

routines, ICICI Prudential also offers convenient training options such as online and self-learning are also

provided by the organization.

 

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A 17-day training schedule covers the mandatory IRDA training requirements and ICICI Prudential

product-training module. Revision session ensure that the candidates thoroughly understand the course

contents and are well prepared for the licensing examination. Theoretical training is interspersed with

practical appointment settings with potential customers, giving advisors a feel of how their business will

work from the very first day. All through, the Unit Manager and the management provide continuous

support to the advisors in achieving independence towards garnering business.

Objectives

To study recruitment process at ICICI PRUDENTIAL LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY.

To study the current life insurance market scenario.

To study and formulate necessary criteria required being successful life advisors

and offering necessary suggestions to the company.

Limitation

As the movement throughout the city is not possible due to certain constraints so the

movement was quite restricted.

People are not ready to go for training. As the training period is of 17 days and it involves full

day, so it becomes difficult for them to leave their offices or shops for such a long time.

The compulsion of selling 12 policies in a year also restricts them from becoming advisors. If

they do not fulfill this target, then their license is cancelled after a year.

Lack of trust on any company of Private Sector.

Lack of knowledge about the products of ICICI Prudential and their total and blind faith on

LIC.

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Sometimes, fresh graduates want to become advisors but the company denies making them an

advisor as they are very fickle-minded and also unreliable.

There is a problem in targeting Chartered Accountants. ICAI, which is the governing body of

Chartered Accountants, does not allow them to become advisors. However, now they have

permitted some CA’s to become advisors, but these are only those ones who are doing jobs

somewhere and not allowed the ones who are doing their practice. So, still this decision is

very dicey.

Sometimes, even those people want to become advisors for the company who are not a

localite but then the major problem that they face is that they have got no natural market, so

they are very susceptible about their performance and whether they will be able to generate

business for the company or not, so they avoid to take up this challenge.

It was a great problem to get appointments from people in the month of March as most of

them were busy in filing their returns.

Some people ask about comparative analysis with LIC.

Some people consider IRDA fees of Rs. 1000 as a constraint.

Non-availability of part-time training.

All small towns are not open for doing this business.

One person cannot take Life Insurance Agency of two different Companies.

Time constraint is the biggest constraint in taking up the study.

SUGGESTIONS

Expand Distribution Network In Semi Rural Areas

- Start business in all small towns.

Target Semi Rural Market

- Offer agencies to localite people.

- Open operation offices with highly educated team

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CONTENTS

PREFACE

Certificate from the guide

Certificate from the company

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

CHAPTER1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 History of Life Insurance..................................................

1.2 Life Insurance Market………………………………......

1.3 Definition of Life Insurance.............................................

1.4 Why Do You Need Insurance……………………...........

1.5 Benefits of Life Insurance……………………………….

1.6 Life Insurance v/s Other Investments...............................

1.7 Role of Life Insurance.......................................................

1.8 Introduction to the Company...........................................

1.9Products and Services.........................................................

CHAPTER2: PROJECT PROFILE

2.1 Objectives……………………………………….....

2.2 Significance of the study..…………………………

2.3 Methodology…………………………….................

2.4 Contact Method………………………….................

2.5 Training………………………………….................

2.6 Limitations…………………………………………

CHAPTER3 : FACT AND FINDINGS………………………………………….

CHAPTER4 : SUGGESTIONS …………………………………………………9

BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………………………………………........

INTRODUCTION

All the human beings on the earth know that they will die in future but they don’t want to die. They want

to fulfill all the dreams, which they had thought, but there are times when all these dreams can’t come

true.

Death is inevitable and yet we live our lives obvious to reality that may strike- when we have no idea.

And when it happens, all the dreams come crashing down.

In the words of D S Hansell “Insurance may be defined as a social device

providing financial compensation for the effects of misfortune, the payment

being made from the accumulated contributions of all the parties

participating in the scheme”

Life insurance is the only tool to secure our life in future. It also provides a safe guard to the uncertainty

of our life. Life insurance is the cheapest investment tool in which we can earn more in a short period of

time.

The function of insurance is to protect you against losses you can't afford. This is

done by transferring the risks of a person, business, or organization -- the

"insured" -- to an insurance company, or "insurer." The insurer then reimburses the insured

for "covered" losses -- i.e., those losses it pays for under the policy's terms. As the insurance consumer,

you pay an amount of money, called a premium, to the insurer to transfer the risk. The insurer pools all

its premiums into a large fund, and when a policyholder has a loss, the insurer draws funds from the pool

to pay for the loss. Life is full of unexpected events that can create large financial losses. For example,

whenever you drive, it is possible that you may have a costly accident. Risks affect you by causing worry

about potential loss and how to deal with the consequences. Insurance reduces anxiety over a possible

loss and absorbs the financial brunt of its consequences.

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India has traditionally been a high savings oriented country being on par with the thrifty Japan. Insurance

sector in the United States of America is as big in size as the banking industry there. This gives us an idea

of how important the sector is. Insurance sector channelises the savings of the people to long-term

investments. In India where infrastructure is said to be of critical importance, this sector will bring the

nations own money for the nation.

The global life insurance market stands at $1,521.2 billion while the non-life insurance market is

placed at $922.4 billion.

India takes the 23rd position with US $9.933 billion annual premium collections and a meager

0.41% share.

Out of one billion people in India, only 35 million people are covered by insurance.

Indian insurance market is set to touch $25 billion by 2010, on the assumption of a 7 per cent real

annual growth in GDP.

In 3 years time we would expect the 10% of the population to be under some sort of an insurance cover.

This assuming a premium of Rs. 5000 on an average, amounts to 100 million x Rs.5000 = Rs. 500 bn.

This has made the sector the hottest one in India after IT. With social security and security to the public at large being the agenda for opening the sector, the role of the regulator becomes all the more serious and one that would be carefully watched at every step.

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1.1 HISTORY OF LIFE INSURANCE

Insurance concept had been found out way behind in 13 th and 14th century. The earliest reference to

insurance has been found Babylonia, the Greeks and the Romans. The use of insurance appeared in the

account of North Italian Merchant Bank that then dominated the international trade in Europe at that time.

The oldest and earliest record of insurance come in the form of marine insurance where ships and the

cargo were insured against perils such as pirates, storm, mutiny and wars.

The first company known as the Sun Insurance Office Ltd. was set up in the Calcutta in the years 1710.

After that a number of companies were established for marine and general insurance. The history of life

insurance in India dates back to 1818 when it was conceived as a means to provide for English Widows.

Interestingly in those days a higher premium was charged for Indian lives than the non-Indian lives as

Indian lives were considered more riskier for coverage.

The Bombay Mutual Life Insurance Society started its business in 1870. It was the first company to

charge same premium for both Indian and non-Indian lives. The Oriental Assurance Company was

established in 1880. The first general insurance company- Tital Insurance Company Limited was

established in 1850. Till the end of nineteenth century insurance business was almost entirely in the hands

of overseas companies.

Insurance regulation formally began in India with the passing of the Life Insurance Companies Act of

1912 and the provident fund Act of 1912. Several frauds during 20's and 30's sullied insurance business in

India. By 1938 there were 176 insurance companies. The first comprehensive legislation was introduced

with the Insurance Act of 1938 that provided strict State Control over insurance business. The insurance

business grew at a faster pace after independence. Indian companies strengthened their hold on this

business but despite the growth that was witnessed, insurance remained an urban phenomenon.

The Government of India in 1956, brought together over 240 private life insurers and provident societies

under one nationalised monopoly corporation and LIC was born. Nationalisation was justified on the

grounds that it would create much-needed funds for rapid industrialization. This was in conformity with

the Government's chosen path of State led planning and development.

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The (non-life) insurance business, however, continued to thrive with the private sector till 1972. Their

operations were restricted to organized trade and industry in large cities. The general insurance industry

was nationalised in 1972. With this, nearly 107 insurers were amalgamated and grouped into four

companies- National Insurance Company, New India Assurance Company, Oriental Insurance Company

and United India Insurance Company. These were subsidiaries of the General Insurance Company (GIC).

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OVERVIEW

With largest number of life insurance policies in force in the world, Insurance happens to be a mega

opportunity in India. It’s a business growing at the rate of 15-20 per cent annually and presently is of the

order of Rs 450 billion. Together with banking services, it adds about 7 per cent to the country’s GDP.  

Gross premium collection is nearly 2 per cent of GDP and funds available with LIC for investments are 8

per cent of GDP.

Yet, nearly 80 per cent of Indian population is without life insurance cover, health insurance and non-life

insurance continue to be below international standards. And this part of the population is also subject to

weak social security and pension systems with hardly any old age income security. This itself is an

indicator that growth potential for the insurance sector is immense.

A well-developed and evolved insurance sector is needed for economic development as it provides long-

term funds for infrastructure development and at the same time strengthens the risk taking ability. It is

estimated that over the next ten years India would require investments of the order of one trillion US

dollar. The Insurance sector, to some extent, can enable investments in infrastructure development to

sustain economic growth of the country.

With a large capital outlay and long gestation periods, infrastructure projects are fraught with a multitude

of risks throughout the development, construction and operation stages. These include risks associated

with project implementation, including geological risks, maintenance, commercial and political risks.

Without covering these risks the financial institutions are not willing to commit funds to the sector,

especially because the financing of most private projects is on a limited or non- recourse basis.

Insurance companies not only provide risk cover to infrastructure projects, they also contribute long-term

funds. In fact, insurance companies are an ideal source of long-term debt and equity for infrastructure

projects. With long-term liability, they get a good asset- liability match by investing their funds in such

projects.

IRDA regulations require insurance companies to invest not less than 15 percent of their funds in

infrastructure and social sectors. International Insurance companies also invest their funds in such

projects.14

Insurance is a federal subject in India. There are two legislations that govern the sector- The Insurance

Act- 1938 and the IRDA Act- 1999.

PRESENT SCENARIO

The Government of India liberalized the insurance sector in March 2000 with the passage of the

Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) Bill, lifting all entry restrictions for private

players and allowing foreign players to enter the market with some limits on direct foreign ownership.

Under the current guidelines, there is a 26 percent equity cap for foreign partners in an insurance

company. There is a proposal to increase this limit to 49 percent. Premium rates of most general insurance

policies come under the purview of the government appointed Tariff Advisory Committee.

INSURANCE IN INDIA

The insurance sector in India has come a full circle from being an open competitive market to

nationalization and back to a liberalized market again. Tracing the developments in the Indian insurance

sector reveals the 360 degree turn witnessed over a period of almost two centuries.

A brief history of the Insurance sector:

The business of life insurance in India in its existing form started in India in the year1818 with the

establishment of the Oriental Life Insurance Company in Calcutta. Some of the important milestones in

the life insurance business in India are:

1912: The Indian Life Assurance Companies Act enacted as the first statute to regulate the life insurance

business.

1928: The Indian Insurance Companies Act enacted to enable the government to collect statistical

information about both life and non-life insurance businesses.

1938: Earlier legislation was consolidated and amended by the Insurance Act with the objective of

protecting the interests of the insuring public.

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1956: 245 Indian and foreign insurers and provident societies were taken over by the central government

and nationalised. LIC formed by an Act of Parliament, viz. LIC Act, 1956, with a capital contribution of

Rs. 5 crores from the Government of India.

The General insurance business in India, on the other hand, can trace its roots to the Triton Insurance

Company Ltd., the first general insurance company established in the year 1850 in Calcutta by the

British. Some of the important milestones in the general insurance business in India are:

1907: The Indian Mercantile Insurance Ltd. set up, the first company to transact all classes of general

insurance business.

1957: General Insurance Council, a wing of the Insurance Association of India, frames a code of conduct

for ensuring fair conduct and sound business practices.

1968: The Insurance Act amended to regulate investments and set minimum solvency margins and the

Tariff Advisory Committee set up.

1972: The General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Act, 1972 nationalised the general insurance

business in India with effect from 1stJanuary

1973: 107 insurers amalgamated and grouped into four companies viz. the National Insurance Company

Ltd., the New India Assurance Company Ltd., the Oriental Insurance Company Ltd. and the United India

Insurance Company Ltd. GIC incorporated as a company.

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INSURANCE SECTOR REFORMS

In 1993, Malhotra Committee, headed by former Finance Secretary and RBI Governor R.N. Malhotra,

was formed to evaluate the Indian insurance industry and recommend its future direction. The Malhotra

committee was set up with the objective of complementing the reforms initiated in the financial sector.

The reforms were aimed at creating a more efficient and competitive financial system suitable for the

requirements of the economy keeping in mind the structural changes currently underway and recognizing

that insurance is an important part of the overall financial system where it was necessary to address the

need for similar reforms. In 1994, the committee submitted the report and some of the key

recommendations included:

Structure: Government stake in the insurance Companies to be brought down to 50%

Government should take over the holdings of GIC and its subsidiaries so that these subsidiaries

can act as independent corporations. All the insurance companies should be given greater

freedom to operate.

Competition: Private Companies with a minimum paid up capital of Rs.1bn should be allowed to

enter the industry. No Company should deal in both Life and General Insurance through single

entity. Foreign companies may be allowed to enter the industry in collaboration with the domestic

companies .Postal Life Insurance should be allowed to operate in the rural market .Only one State

Level Life Insurance Company should be allowed to operate in each state.

Regulatory Body: The Insurance Act should be changed .An Insurance Regulatory body should

be set up. Controller of Insurance (Currently a part from the Finance Ministry) should be made

independent.

Investments: Mandatory Investments of LIC Life Fund in government securities to be reduced

from 75% to 50%.

GIC and its subsidiaries are not to hold more than 5% in any company

(The recurrent holdings to be brought down to this level over a period of time)

Customer Service: LIC should pay interest on delays in payments beyond 30 days. Insurance

companies must be encouraged to set up unit linked pension plans. Computerization of operations

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and updating of technology to be carried out in the insurance industry. The committee

emphasized that in order to improve the customer services and increase the coverage of the

insurance industry should be opened up to competition.

But at the same time, the committee felt the need to exercise caution as any failure on the part of

new players could ruin the public confidence in the industry. Hence, it was decided to allow

competition in a limited way by stipulating the minimum capital requirement of Rs.100 Crores.

The committee felt the need to provide greater autonomy to insurance companies in order to

improve their performance and enable them to act as independent companies with economic

motives. For this purpose, it had proposed setting up an independent regulatory body.

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority Reforms in the Insurance sector were initiated

with the passage of the IRDA Bill in Parliament in December 1999. The IRDA since its incorporation

as a statutory body in April 2000 has fastidiously stuck to its schedule of framing regulations and

registering the private sector insurance companies. The other decisions taken by them simultaneously

were to provide the supporting systems to the insurance sector and in particular the life insurance

companies were the launch of the IRDA online service for issue and renewal of licenses to agents.

The approval of institutions for imparting training to agents has also ensured that the insurance

companies would have a trained workforce of insurance agents in place to sell their products. Since

being set up as an independent statutory body the IRDA has put in a framework of globally

compatible regulations. In the private sector 12 life insurance and 6 general insurance companies

have been registered.

The opening up of the sector is likely to lead to greater spread and deepening of insurance in India

and this may also include restructuring and revitalizing of the public sector companies. A host of

private Insurance companies operating in both life and non-life segments have started selling their

insurance policies since 2001.

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1.2 LIFE INSURANCE MARKET

The Life Insurance market in India is an underdeveloped market that was only tapped by the

state owned LIC till the entry of private insurers. The penetration of life insurance products was

19 percent of the total 400 million of the insurable population. The state owned LIC sold

insurance as a tax instrument, not as a product giving protection. Most customers were under-

insured with no flexibility or transparency in the products. With the entry of the private insurers

the rules of the game have changed.

The 12 private insurers in the life insurance market have already grabbed nearly 9 percent of the

market in terms of premium income. The new business premiums of the 12 private players have

tripled to Rs 2000 crores in 2005- 06 over last year. Meanwhile, state owned LIC's new premium

business has fallen.

Innovative products, smart marketing and aggressive distribution. That's the triple whammy

combination that has enabled fledgling private insurance companies to sign up Indian customers

faster than anyone ever expected. Indians, who have always seen life insurance as a tax saving

device, are now suddenly turning to the private sector and snapping up the new innovative

products on offer.

The growing popularity of the private insurers shows in other ways. They are coining money in

new niches that they have introduced. The state owned companies still dominate segments like

endowments and money back policies.

But in the annuity or pension products business, the private insurers have already wrested over

33 percent of the market. And in the popular unit-linked insurance schemes they have a virtual

monopoly, with over 90 percent of the customers.

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The private insurers also seem to be scoring big in other ways- they are persuading people to

take out bigger policies. For instance, the average size of a life insurance policy before

privatization was around Rs 50,000. That has risen to about Rs 80,000. But the private insurers

are ahead in this game and the average size of their policies is around Rs 1.1 lac to Rs 1.2 lac-

way bigger than the industry average.

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1.3 DEFINITION OF INSURANCE

Insurance is a contractual-type financial intermediary that offers the public protection against the

financial costs associated with the loss of life, health, or property in exchange for premiums.

An agreement that guarantees the payment of a stated amount of monetary benefits upon the death of the

insured.

Risk insurance intended as protection against the financial consequences of the death of the insured

person, which takes the form of payment of a previously agreed lump sum or pension to a beneficiary, if

the insured person dies during the term of insurance. In the case of pure life insurance, without any

endowment insurance component, no payments are due if the insured person survives the term of

insurance.

Insurance is that which provides protection against the economic loss caused by the death of the person

insured.

What is Insurance?

Life Insurance is a contract providing for payment of a sum of money to the person assured or, to the

person entitled to receive the same, on the happening of a certain event.

A family is dependent for its food, clothing and shelter on the income brought by the family's

breadwinner. The family is secure so long as this breadwinner is alive and is capable of earning. A sudden

death (or disability) may leave the family in a financially difficult situation. Uncertainty of death is

inherent in human life and this uncertainty makes it necessary to have some protection against the

financial loss arising from untimely death. Life insurance offers this protection.

The Greeks and Romans started the earliest type of life insurance. Contributions were made by all

surviving members for the burial cost of a member. In case of the death of a member the cost of burial

was made out of the contributed fund.

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In the 17th century, the Tontine Annuity system was introduced where associations of individuals were

formed without any reference to age, and a fund was created by equal contributions from each member.

The sum collected was invested, and at the end of each year the interest was divided among the survivors.

The last remaining survivor received both the year's interest and the entire amount of the principal.

The first organized life insurance company was founded in 1759 in Philadelphia, in North America.

Subsequently, over the past three centuries, numerous life insurance

Companies sprung up, making life insurance a popular tool for protection coupled with investment.

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1.4 Why do you need life Insurance?

You need Life Insurance because typically the need for income continues for those who are financially

dependent on you, but there is no guarantee of your ability to earn consistently and for the rest of your

life. Life insurance can help you safeguard the financial needs of your family.

This need has become even more important due to steady disintegration of the prevalent joint family

system, and emergence of nuclear families. The need to protect your family's ever growing needs is why

you need Life Insurance.

Replacement of Income

Life insurance products can provide support to the family and take care of the family's financial

requirements. It provides a lump sum or periodic payments to help replace the income stream, in case of

an unfortunate event or an untimely demise of the breadwinner.

Lifestyle Maintenance

Life insurance products can help you build a corpus to protect and maintain your lifestyle against

fluctuations in your future income.

Costs of Education

You need to support your child with a sound educational background, to help your child achieve his/her

dreams. Life insurance products can help you fulfill these needs, whether you are there or not.

Retirement Expenses

Retirement is an age when an individual has fulfilled almost all his responsibilities and looks forward to

relaxing. Life insurance products can help you lead a secure and tension free retired life by ensuring that

you get guaranteed pension.

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Mortgage and Debt protection

With increasing consumerism and ever-rising demands, loans and debts are now part of life. Life

insurance products help you ensure that your family is not unduly burdened with their repayments, in case

of an unfortunate event or an untimely demise of the breadwinner.

Hardships Protection

Life insurance provides a sense of security to the income earner and to his/her family. Buying life

insurance frees the individual from various unnecessary financial burdens that can otherwise make one

spend sleepless nights.

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1.5 BENEFITS OF LIFE INSURANCE

Superior to Any Other Savings Plan

Unlike any other savings plan, a life insurance policy affords full protecton against risk of death. In the

event of death of a policyholder, the insurance company makes available the full sum assured to the

policyholders' near and dear ones. In comparison, any other savings plan would amount to the total

savings accumulated till date. If the death occurs prematurely, such savings can be much lesser than the

sum assured. Evidently, the potential financial loss to the family of the policyholder is sizable.

Encourages and Forces Thrift

A savings deposit can easily be withdrawn. The payment of life insurance premiums, however, is

considered sacrosanct and is viewed with the same seriousness as the payment of interest on a mortgage.

Thus, a life insurance policy in effect brings about compulsory savings.

Easy Settlement and Protection against Creditor

A life insurance policy is the only financial instrument the proceeds of which can be protected against the

claims of a creditor of the assured by effecting a valid assignment of the policy.

Administering the Legacy for Beneficiaries

Speculative or unwise expenses can quickly cause the proceeds to be squandered. Several policies have

foreseen this possibility and provide for payments over a period of years or in a combination of

installments and lump sum amounts.

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Ready Marketability and Suitability for Quick Borrowing

A life insurance policy can, after a certain time period (generally three years), be surrendered for a cash

value. The policy is also acceptable as a security for a commercial loan, for example, a student loan. It is

particularly advisable for housing loans when an acceptable LIC policy may also cause the lending

institution to give loan at lower interest rates.

Disability Benefits

Death is not the only hazard that is insured; many polices also include disability benefits. Typically, these

provide for waiver of future premiums and payment of monthly installments spread over certain time

period.

Accidental Death Benefits

Many policies can also provide for an extra sum to be paid (typically equal to the sum assured) if death

occurs as a result of accident.

Tax Relief

Under the Indian Income Tax Act, the following tax relief is available

a) 20 % of the premium paid can be deducted from your total income tax liability.

b) 100 % of the premium paid is deductible from your total taxable income.

When these benefits are factored in, it is found that most polices offer returns that are comparable or even

better than other saving modes such as PPF, NSC etc. Moreover, the cost of insurance is a very

negligible.

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1.6 Life insurance V/S other investments

Most investment options make your money work harder, but there are no substitutes to life

insurance. Because only a life insurance policy gives you both - risk cover against your life, as

well as returns on your money invested.

Life insurance allows long tem savings to be made in a relatively painless manner because of the

low and convenient investments made through premiums. Moreover, it encourages 'forced thrift'

which means the insured is made to pay premiums and save money, which he/she may not do in

the regular course of life.

Should you require loans, say for building a house, it can be easily obtained against a life

insurance policy. Amongst the most known benefits of Life Insurance is the savings on your

income taxes.

Life insurance cannot be compared with any other form of investment as life insurance gives you

a life long benefit and returns on your money when it is most required.

Insurance premiums are linked to age of the life insured and the earlier you buy, the lower are the

premium requirements. Besides, the money stays invested for a longer time and thereby

maximizing your returns through the power of rupee compounding. So, a life insurance policy is

an ideal tool to gain security and ensure savings.

Most importantly it provides you with that unique sense of security and peace of mind that no

other form of investment provides.

27

1.7 ROLE OF LIFE INSURANCE

Security and Stability

Investment

Preservation of Health

Increase Efficiency

Self Reliance

Mental Peace

Planning of future

Safe guard against statutory liability

Capitalization of earning capacity

Exemption from Tax Liability

Safety to Investment Mode.

28

1.8 INTRODUCTION TO THE COMPANY

ICICI (Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India):

The World Bank, the Government of India and the Indian Industry, to promote industrial development of India by providing project and corporate finance to Indian industry, established ICICI LTD., in 1955.

Since inception, ICICI has grown from a development bank to a financial conglomerate and has become one of the largest public financial institutions in India.

ICICI has thus far financed all the major sectors of the economy, covering 6,848 companies and 16,851 projects. As of March 31, 2000, ICICI had disbursed a total of Rs. 1, 13,070 crores, since inception.

Organizational structure of ICICI

29

ICICI PRUDENTIAL LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY

1. COMPANY

Under this topic, the major headings that will be covered are as under:

Historical Background

Mission & Vision

Promoters

Holdings

Equity structure

Organization structure

Departmentation

Details of division heads

Financial performance of the company

30

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company is a joint venture between ICICI Bank, and Prudential Plc, a

leading international financial services group which has its headquarters in U.K.ICICI Prudential was

amongst the first private sector companies to begin operations in December 2000 after receiving approval

from Insurance Regulatory Development Authority (IRDA). ICICI Prudential’s total equity is 11.75 Bn

with ICICI Bank & Prudential Plc. In the end of year 2006-07, ICICI Prudential had issued over 17.8 lacs

policies, for a total sum assured of over 29000 crores and premium collection is over 2351 crores.

The company has a network of about 53000 advisors: as well as 12 bankassurance tie-ups. Today the

company stands first in private life insurance in India with a market share of nearly 40%.

31

VISION

The company’s vision is “to make ICICI Prudential the dominant Life and Pensions player built on trust by world-class people and service.”

They hope to achieve this by:

Understanding the needs of customers and offering them superior products and service.

Leveraging technology to device customers quickly, efficiently and conveniently.

Developing and implementing superior risk management and investment strategies to offer sustainable and stable returns to their policyholders.

Providing an enabling environment to foster growth and learning for their employees.

And above all, building transparency in all their dealings.

The success of the company is due to its unflinching commitment to 5 core values-

Integrity,

Customer First,

Boundaryless,

Ownership,

Passion.

Each of the core values describe what the company stands for, the qualities of their people and the way they work.

32

PROMOTERS

ICICI Ltd., was established in 1955 by the World Bank, the Government of India and the Indian Industry, to promote industrial development of India by providing project and corporate finance to Indian industry.

Since inception, ICICI has grown from a development bank to a financial conglomerate and has become one of the largest public financial institutions in India. ICICI has thus far financed all the major sectors of the economy, covering 6,848 companies and 16,851 projects. As of March 31, 2000, ICICI had disbursed

The promoters of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company are: ICICI Bank and Prudential Plc .ICICI

and Prudential came together in 1993 to form Prudential ICICI Asset Management Company, which has

today emerged as one of the leading mutual funds in India. The two companies bring together two of the

strongest financial service brands in Asia, known for their professionalism, excellent quality of service

and long term commitment to THEIR CUSTOMERS.

ICICI Bank has 74% stake in the company, and Prudential Plc has 26%.

ICICI BANKThe Bank ’s net customer assets in reased 47%to Rs.163,785 crore (US$35.7 billion)at September 30,2006 compared to Rs.111,514 crore (US$24.3 billion)at September 30,2005.The Bank maintained its growthmomentum and market leadership in the retail segment.In H1-2007,theBank ’ s total retail disbursements were about Rs.33,500 crore (US$7.3billion)including home loan disbursements of about Rs.13,400 crore(US$2.9 billion).Retail assets constituted 69%of advances and 66%ofcustomer assets.The Bank is focusing on non-fund based products andservi es,as well as capitalising on opportunities presented by thedomestic and international expansion of Indian ompanies.The Bank is

also extending its reach in the small and medium enterprises segment.ICICI

Bank has a network of about 540 branches and extension counters and over 1800 ATMs.

ICICI Bank offers a wide range of banking products and financial services to corporate and retail

customers through a variety of banking products and financial services to corporate and retail

customers through a variety of delivery channels and through its specialized subsidiaries and

affiliates in the areas of investment banking, life and non-life insurance, venture capital and asset

management.

ICICI Bank set up its international banking group in fiscal 2002 to cater to the cross-border needs

of clients and leverage on its domestic banking strengths to offer products internationally.

33

ICICI Bank currently has subsidiaries in United Kingdom and Canada, branches in Singapore and

Bahrain and representative offices in the United States,China,United Arab Emirates and

Bangladesh.

ICICI Bank’s equity shares are listed in India on the Stock Exchange, Mumbai and the National

Stock Exchange of India Limited and its American Depository Receipts (ADRs) are listed on the

New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

PRUDENTIAL PLC Established in London in 1848, Prudential Plc, through its businesses in the UK and Europe, the

US and Asia, provides retail financial services , products and services to more than 16 million

customers, policyholders and unit holders worldwide.

As of December 2003, the company had over US $300 billion in funds under management.

Prudential has brought to market an integrated range of financial services products that now

includes life assurance, pensions, mutual funds, banking, investment management and general

insurance.

In Asia, Prudential is UK’s largest life insurance company with a vast network of 23 life and

mutual fund operations in twelve countries-China, HongKong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea,

Malaysia, thePhilippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.

Solid reputation built over 150 years.

Insurance and investment funds under management exceed Rs 11,00,000 crores.

Already established as one of the biggest private sector mutual fund companies in India.

(Prudential ICICI AMC.)

A truly global brand.

Prudential is the largest life insurance company in the United Kingdom (Source : S&P's UK Life

Financial Digest, 1998). Asia has always been an important region for Prudential and it has had a

presence in Asia for over 75 years. In fact Prudential's first overseas operation was in India, way back

in 1923 to establish Life and General Branch agencies.

34

TODAY IN THE LIFE INSURANCE MARKET THERE ARE 13 PLAYERS AND TOTAL 149 VARIOUS PLANS AVAILABLE.

35

THE PRIVATE LINE UP

37.11.3 6.1

0.5

7.8

13.5 15.25.5

3.17.4

0.61.8

Birla Sun Life Allianz Bajaj

Om Kotak SBI Life ING Vysya

Met Life AMP Sanmar Tata AIG

AVIVA Life ICICI Pru Max NYL

HDFC Stand.

Insurer

Total Premium U/W Total No. of Policies

Issued

Average Premium Per

Policy

  Feb-07 Apr-Feb 07 Feb-07 Apr-Feb 07 Feb-07 Apr-Feb 07

1 ICICI 13900 59714 83752 360511 16922 19949

2 TATA AIG 3754 16287 18368 138990 17826 12429

3 OM KOTAK 1174 7961 5789 41925 22328 19882

4 BIRLA SUNLIFE 6248 25752 21792 114254 29514 22050

5 MAX NEW YORK 1720 10818 18437 119351 8030 9163

6 ING VYSYA 982 4717 8815 59725 8702 7827

7 HDFC 2818 17002 20958 170769 11939 9242

36

8 MET LIFE 469 2028 3112 21497 11225 10377

9 ALLIANZ BAJAJ 3118 13397 18168 162536 13694 9996

10 SBI 2237 11817 12125 62121 22315 21323

11 AVIVA 1144 6135 7758 58478 14492 12509

12 AMP SANMAR 464 2300 3405 39843 8506 5700

SUB TOTAL 38028 177928 222479 1350000 14549 16044

13 LIC 189078 1197127 2610814 19551707 6888 6279

GRAND TOTAL 227106 1375055 2833293 20901707 10719 11162

37

38

39

HOLDINGS

ICICI Bank and Prudential plc came together in 1993 and formed Prudential ICICI Asset Management

Company. ICICI Bank has 74% stake in the company, and Prudential plc has 26%.

EQUITY STRUCTURE

Capital adequacy

The Bank ’s capital adequacy at September 30,2006 was 14.3%(including

Tier 1 apital adequacy of 9.4%),well above RBI ’ s requirement of total

capital adequacy of 9.0%.The Bank ’ s unaudited capital adequacy

estimated based on RBI ’s draft guidelines issued in February 2005 on

implementation of the revised capital adequacy framework (Basel II),was

about 14.9%(including Tier 1 apital adequacy of about 10.5%)at

September 30,2006.

Asset quality

At September 30,2006,the Bank ’ s net non-performing assets onstituted

0.9%of customer assets against 1.0%at September 30,2005.The Bank ’s

net restructured loans at September 30,2006 were Rs.4,942 crore (US$

1.1 billion),down from Rs.5,713 crore (US$1.2 billion)at September 30,

2005.

40

ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE, DEPARTMENTATION AND DETAILS OF

DIVISION HEAD

The CEO and Managing Director of ICICI Bank, Mr. K.V. Kamath is the Chairman of ICICI Prudential

Life Insurance Company. The structure is as follows:

Organization Chart – Head Of Management Team:

41

Ms. Shikha Sharma - MD

Mr. Bhargav Dasgupta,

Executive Director

Mr. M.S.Khanan

Ms.Anita PalEVP.

Mr.Azim Mithani

Chief Actuary

Mr. V.Rajagopalan

Mr.Puneet Nanda

Ms.Binayak DuttaChief

The ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company Limited Board comprises of reputed people from the

finance industry both from India and abroad.

Mr. K. V. Kamath, Chairman

Mr. Barry Stowe

Mrs. Lalita D. Gupte

Mrs. Kalpana Morparia

Mr. HT Phong

Mrs. Chandana Kochhar

Mr. Kevin Holmgren

Mr. M. P. Modi

Mr. R. Narayanan

Mr. N. S. Kannan, Executive Director

Mr. Bhargav Dasgupta, Executive Director

Ms. Shikha Sharma, Managing Director

Ms. Shikha Sharma, Managing Director, is responsible for all the operations of the company. She started

her career in ICICI in 1980 and has worked in various divisions of ICICI like Project Finance, Corporate

Planning and Resource Raising. From 1992-1997,she was involved in setting up of ICICI Securities, a

Joint venture between ICICI & JP Morgan. In April 1997, she became the General Manager, Strategic

Planning and Policy department and Information Technology.In August 1998, she was appointed the

Senior General Manager of ICICI Personal Financial Services Ltd., and was responsible for all the retail

asset products of the company.

Ms. Shikha Sharma, has done her B.A. (Hons.), Master of Business Administration from the Indian

Institute of Management,Ahmedabad and a Post Graduate Diploma in Software Technology, from the

National centre for Software Technology, Mumbai.

42

The various departments in the organization are:

1. The Human Resource Department

2. Investment Department

3. Customer Service and Operations Department

4. Information Technology Department

5. Strategy Department

6. Marketing Department.

43

FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE OF THE COMPANY

Prudential ICICI Asset Management Company continues to be among the

top two asset management companies in India with assets under

management of over Rs.30,000 rore (US$6.5 billion)at September 30,

2006.

Summary Profit and Loss Statement

Rs.crore

Q2-2006 Q2-2007 Growth

over

Q2-2006

H1-2006 H1-

2007

FY2006

Net interest

income 1

1,070 1,577 47% 2,039 3,052 4,709

Non-interest

income

(excluding

treasury)

871 1,283 47% 1,779 2,473 4,056

-Fee income 704 1,138 62% 1,363 2,123 3,259

-Lease &other

income

167 145 (13%) 416 350 797

Less:

Operating expense 816 1,157 42% 1,587 2,237 3,547

Expenses on direct

market agents

(DMAs)1

257 327 27% 511 718 1,177

Lease depre iation 64 51 (20%) 128 102 277

Core operating

profit

804 1,325 65% 1,592 2,468 3,763

44

Treasury income 240 287 20% 423 375 928

Operating profit 1,044 1,612 54% 2,015 2,843 4,691

Less:Provisions 2,3 304 709 133% 602 1,192 1,594

Profit before tax 740 903 22% 1,413 1,651 3,097

Less:Tax 303 160 148 (8%) 276 557

Profit after tax 580 755 30% 1,110 1,375 2,540

1.Includes perpetual debt allable with regulatory approval at the end of 10 years from

issue,qualifying as Tier-1 apital,aggregating Rs.2,271 crore.

Ex ept for the historical information ontained herein,statements in this Release

which contain words or phrases such as 'will','would',‘indicating ’,‘expe ted to ’ et .,

and similar expressions or variations of such expressions may onstitute 'forward-

looking statements'.These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks,

uncertainties and other factors that ould ause a tual results to differ materially

from those suggested by the forward-looking statements.These risks and

uncertainties include,but are not limited to our ability to suc essfully implement

our strategy,future levels of non-performing loans,our growth and expansion in

business,the impact of any a quisitions,the adequacy of our allowance for credit

losses,technological implementation and hanges,the actual growth in demand for

banking products and services,investment income,ash flow proje tions,our

exposure to market risks as well as other risks detailed in the reports filed by us

with the United States Se urities and Exchange Commission.ICICI Bank undertakes

no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect events or

circumstances after the date thereof.

45

1.9 PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

The topics covered under this are:

Product Mix

Product Life Cycle

Pricing

Promotion Strategies

Segmentation and positioning strategies

Communication strategies and media analysis

Distribution and channel management

Technology

46

PRODUCT MIX

ICICI Prudential Life Insurance offers a range of innovative, customer-centric products that meet the

needs of customers at every life stage. Its 19 products are combined with up to 6 riders, to create a

customized solution for each policyholder. The company provides insurance solutions for both

individuals as well as groups.

The insurance solutions for the individuals are:

Savings Solutions

1. Secure Plus is a Transparent and feature-packed savings plan that offers 3 levels of protection.

2. Cash Plus is a transparent and feature-packed savings plan that offers 3 levels of protection as

well as liquidity options.

3. Save “n” protect is a traditional endowment savings plan that offers life protection along with

the adequate returns. This policy falls under the category of endowment policy. The policy-holder

gets the sum assured and bonuses on survival. Unlike the cash back policy, there are no

guaranteed bonuses here. The novel feature of the policy is that the policy holder is covered for

life for 50 per cent of the sum assured for five years beyond the maturity date.

4. Cash Back is the policy which is ideal for meeting milestone expenses like children’s marriage,

their higher education or to purchase any other asset.ICICI Prudential’s cash back policy is

structured on the lines of the money back policies offered by LIC and others in the field. Simply

put, the policyholder gets regular returns at pre-determined intervals and the sum assured and

bonus at the end of the period. ICICI Prudential’s cash back policy has an interesting feature, in

that, the company offers a guaranteed bonus .LIC is regarded as an exception of sorts because the

entity’s track record of bonus gives one a fair idea of what can be expected. ICICI Prudential

claims to be the only one offering a guaranteed bonus in addition to another bonus that is

contingent on the returns the company generates on investment.

47

Protection Solutions

LifeGuard is a protection plan, which offers life cover at very low cost. It is available in 3 options-

level term assurance, level term assurance with return of premium and single premium. The company

offers two pure life insurance products that have an umbrella name, Life Guard. One of them involves

a one-time premium for which there are no maturity benefits. The other requires regular premium

payments that are returned at the end of the policy. Life Guard offers absolutely no investment-related

return and is suitable for individuals looking for an unadulterated insurance package.

48

Child Plans

SmartKid education plans provide guaranteed educational benefits to a child along with life

insurance cover for the parent who purchases the policy. The policy is designed to provide money at

important milestones in the child’s life. Smartkid plans are also available in unit-linked form-both

single premium and regular premium.

Market-linked Solutions

1. Life Link II is a single premium Market Linked Insurance Plan that combines life insurance

cover with the opportunity to stay invested in the stock market.

2. Life Time II offers customers the flexibility and control to customize the policy to meet the

changing needs at different life stages. It offers 4-fund options-Preserver, Protector, Balancer

and Maximiser.

3. Premier Life is a limited premium-paying plan that offers customers life insurance cover till

the age of 75.

49

Retirement Solutions

1. Forever Life is a retirement product targeted at individuals in their thirties.

2. SecurePlus Pension is a flexible pension plan that allows one to select between 3

levels of cover.

3. LifeTime Pension II is a regular premium market-linked pension plan.

4. LifeLink Pension II is a single premium market-linked pension plan.

ICICI Prudential also launched “Salaam Zindagi”, a social sector group insurance policy targeted at the

economically underprivileged sections of the society.

The policies for groups are:

ICICI Prudential also offers Group Insurance Solutions for companies seeking to enhance benefits to their

employees. They are:

1. ICICI Pru Group Gratuity Plan: ICICI Prudential’s group gratuity plan helps employers fund

their statutory gratuity obligation in a scientific manner .The plan can also be customized to

structure schemes that can provide benefits beyond the statutory obligations.

2. ICICI Pru Group Superannuation Plan: ICICI Prudential offers a flexible defined

contribution superannuation scheme to provide a retirement solution for each member of the

group. Employees have the option of choosing from various annuity options or opting for a

partial commutation of the annuity at the time of retirement.

3. ICICI Pru Group Term Plan: ICICI Prudential’s flexible group term solution helps provide

affordable cover to members of a group. The cover could be uniform or based on

designation/rank or a multiple of salary. The benefit under the policy is paid to the beneficiary

nominated by the member on his/her death.

50

Flexible Rider Options

ICICI Pru Life offers flexible riders, which can be added to the basic policy at a marginal cost, depending

on the specific needs of the customer. Most of the riders come with the traditional money back and

endowment policies and the flexibility here may well be the USP of the latest generation of insurance

products.

ICICI Prudential’s riders are meant to cover accidents, critical illness, assistance for major surgeries and a

desire to double the insurance cover during the life of the policy.

The concepts underlying the riders offered by different companies are similar. Therefore, any interested

person will have to take a close look at the fine print; a difference here could make all the difference.

The major advantage of the riders offered by ICICI Prudential, as well as its competitors, is that a

policyholder has the flexibility to mix and match the rider according to requirements, and thereby avoid

paying for benefits one does not need.

1. Accident and disability Benefit: If death occurs as the result of an accident during

the term of the policy, the beneficiary receives an additional amount equal to the sum

assured under the policy. If the death occurs while traveling in an authorized mass transport

vehicle, the beneficiary will be entitled to twice the sum assured as additional benefit.

2. Accident Benefit: This rider option pays the sum assured under the rider on death

due to accident.

3. Critical Illness Benefit: This protects the insured against financial loss in the

event of 9 specified critical illness. Benefits are payable to the insured for medical expense

prior to death.

4. Income Benefit: This rider pays the 10% of the sum assured to the nominee every

year, till maturity, in the event of the death of the life assured. It is available on Smartkid,

SecurePlus and CashPlus.

51

5. Waiver of Premium: In case of total and permanent disability due to an accident,

the premiums are waived till maturity. This rider is available with SecurePlus and

CashPlus.

PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE

The Insurance industry is just in the introduction stage. So the company’s product stands in the

introduction stage. It will still take two three years to reach break-even point for the company.

52

PROMOTION STRATEGIES

Over the last few months, ICICI Prudential has been advertising in outdoor, TV and press. The company

launched a corporate television campaign-Saat Phere-which took the emotions and thoughts of initial

Sindoor corporate film a few steps further. The film highlights the strength of promises that a husband

makes to his wife, through the depiction of everyday situations, and then goes on to emphasize that ICICI

Prudential will stand by the husband to help him fulfill all these promises. The TV campaign has also

been extended to outdoor.

The company has also undertaken press and internet campaigns to inform customers about benefits of

some of its products, particularly retirement solutions, through the Chintamani campaign.

After the hugely successful Chintamani(retirement) and Saat Phere(corporate) campaigns, ICICI

Prudential Life Insurance also introduced some innovations in the category, such as: having a tax planner

by the name of Chintamani on radio, who would answer consumer’s queries about the role of insurance in

financial planning.

Other initiatives included tie-up with the Dabbawala Organization in Mumbai for a direct marketing

exercise, to talk to the customer through a non-cluttered route, and thereby have a higher impact. The

direct mailer was about ICICI Prudential’s retirement solutions and the tax benefits that one can avail of

buy investing in any of these. About 1, 00,000 direct mailers were attached to the ‘dabbas’, in areas such

as Churchgate, Bandra and Andheri where there are mostly office-goers.

In addition to advertising, the company has also initiated several activities to raise consumer awareness

about life insurance and ICICI Prudential. It includes seminars- ICICI Prudential regularly holds

consumer awareness meets on ‘the need for retirement planning’ in different cities such as Pune,

Aurangabad, Coimbatore, Nagpur, Bangalore and Mangalore. These are very well attended and have

contributed significantly towards increasing awareness about the category and the company. Apart from

this, they have also entered into alliances with telecom companies, as well as companies like BPCL and

Dominos.

The company also sets up stalls at various vacation fairs or events. Not only that, last year they had set up

a camp where they offered free check-ups for blood pressure and blood tests.53

54

SEGMENTATION AND POSITIONING STRATEGIES

At a broad level, ICICI Prudential aims to secure the families of the middle and upper class working

people in urban and rural India. Their strategy has always been to focus on delivering value and

convenience to the customer, whether they are in the rural or urban areas. Hence, in urban areas

they have focused on offering product choice and flexibility and building easy access for the

customers; while in rural areas the focus is on partnering with NGO’s and grass-root organizations

and offering a simple product that can be understood by the customers.

COMMUNICATION AND MEDIA ANALYSIS

ICICI Prudential’s success has been built on its consistent focus on the customer and delivering on

his/her needs. This includes several initiatives, such as:

Developing flexible products that are based on consumer needs and insights.

Offering differentiated service to the customer in a manner that is most

Convenient to him/her-be it through the web, call centres, branches, etc.

Scientific risk management.

Investment strategy with a focus on safety, stability and returns are some of the factors that have

facilitated their growth.

Since its inception, ICICI Prudential has invested in building a meaningful brand in the mind of its

customers. These efforts have borne fantastic results, with the company enjoying total brand

awareness scores of 92%, the highest among private life insurers.

55

The Marketing function at ICICI Prudential covers many activities-

Brand and media management,

Channel support,

Direct marketing and

Corporate communications.

The Brand and Communications team is in charge of advertising, consumer research, media planning &

buying and Public Relations; that helps in developing and nurturing ICICI Prudential’s corporate identity

while effectively communicating its varied product offerings to the customer. Channel marketing

provides support to the sales force by providing streamlining the design and development of collaterals

and sales tools across distribution channels. The Direct Marketing team was set up to generate high

quality leads for profitable business. The team achieves this through target database acquisition and

communicating customized product information through e-mailers, telemarketing and innovative direct

mailers.

ICICI Prudential Life Insurance has shifted its Rs.200 million media planning and buying account from

Initiative Media to Mindshare. Apart from Mindshare and Initiative Media, there were three other

agencies in the final round. ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, head-marketing, Abhishek Bhatia had short

listed five agencies in a second round, to test their media planning in terms of tools and applications and

creativity in terms of their usage before opting for Mindshare.

In all, nine agencies were invited in the first round. The new agency will handle the TV, print, cinema,

radio and other mass media buying for ICICI Prudential. Lowe continues to work on the creative business

while Ogilvy Landscapes handles outdoor advertising.

The main aim of the company is that they are looking for agencies, which can go beyond tools and

techniques in terms of rigorously using them, and implementing a robust monitoring system (for

efficiency in terms of planning and execution of the plan devised). Also, they should have some expertise

in handling the banking, financial services and insurance category. The company also looks at the

capability to go beyond TV, outdoor and print.

56

DISTRIBUTION AND CHANNEL MANAGEMENT

The company has the highest distribution network having 75 branches across 45 locations. It is the only

company to do 1 million policies. In keeping with its philosophy of giving the customers choice in how

they want to approach the company, ICICI Prudential was the first life insurer to launch operations with a

multi-channel distribution strategy that included:

Advisors

Bankassurance

Corporate agents

Direct marketing

And most recently, its online application system-Insta Insure.

Also this is the only company to have a tie-up with Indian Post Office.

The company has a network of about 40,000 advisors and 53,000 agents, which contribute the greatest

percentage of business. Alternate channels such as corporate agents and bank relationships contributed

nearly 30% of business in 2006.

ICICI Prudential has one of the largest distribution networks amongst private life insurers in India, having

commenced operations in 62 cities and towns in India. These are: Agra, Ahmedabad, Ajmer, Allahabad,

Amritsar, Aurangabad, Bangalore, Bareilly, Bhatinda, Bhopal, Bhubaneshwar, Chandigarh, Chennai,

Coimbatore, Dehradun, Goa, Guntur, Gurgaon, Gwalior, Hyderabad, Hubli, Indore, Jaipur, Jalandhar,

Jamnagar, Jamshedpur, Jodhpur, Kanpur, Karnal, Kochi, Kolkata, Kolhapur, Kota, Kottayam, Kozhikode,

Lucknow, Ludhiana, Madurai, Mangalore, Meerut, Mumbai, Nagpur, Nasik, Noida, New Delhi, Patiala,

Pune, Raipur, Rajkot, Ranchi, Rourkela, Siliguri, Surat, Thane, Thrissur, Trichy, Trivandrum, Udaipur,

Vadodara, Vashi, Vijaywada and Vizag.

The company has 11 bankassurance tie-ups, having agreements with ICICI Bank, Federal Bank, South

Indian Bank, Bank of India, Lord Krishna Bank, as well as some co-operative banks like Punjab and

Maharashtra Co.- operative Bank, Goa State Co. – operative Bank. Indoor Parraspar Sahakari Bank,

57

Manipal State co. operative Bank, Shamrao Vithal Co-operative Bank and Jalgaon Peoples co. operative

Bank and corporate agents. Allahabad Bank was having agreement with ICICI PRUDENTIAL till May

2004. Now it has joined to SBI Life Insurance. It has also tied up with organizations like Dhan for

distribution of Salaam Zindagi, a policy for the socially and economically underprivileged sections of

society.

Bankassurance:

Bankassurance in its simplest form is the distribution of insurance products through a bank's

distribution channels. In concrete terms bankassurance, which is also known as Allfinanz -

describes a package of financial services that can fulfill both banking and insurance needs at the

same time. The motives behind bankassurance also vary. For banks, it is a means of product

diversification and a source of additional fee income. Insurance companies see bankassurance as

a tool for increasing their market penetration and premium turnover. The customer sees

bankassurance as a bonanza in terms of reduced price, high quality product and delivery at

doorsteps. Actually, everybody is a winner here.

Brief Detail of some Bankassurance tie-ups With Company:

(1) Allahabad Bank :

Allahabad Bank is the oldest public sector Bank in India having branches all over

India serving the customers since 1865. They entered into and insurance tie up with

us in September last year and have never looked back since then.

Dr. B.Samal, ex-Chairman and M. D, Allahabad Bank, on the tie up with ICICI

Prudential:

“This strategic alliance with the ICICI Prudential Life is an extension of our

philosophy to provide a complete range of financial solution to our customers. By

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trying-up with India’s leading private life insurer, we can assured our customers of

not only a complete innovatively designed product range, but also excellent services.”

Allahabad Bank has recently joined up with LIC.

(2) Bank Of India :

One of the large public sector Banks entered into bankassurance tie up with us a year

a halfback. Since last year we have expanded three folds. But “this is just a

beginning” in the words of Executive Director, Mr. O. N. Singh. He said we have

started earning. The income form these areas may not be substantial, but it is a net

addition. We are making it without incurring even a single penny of additional

expenditure. Developing capabilities is as important as making profits. The profits

from these areas may be 20 Crores this year. Once our staff learns to sell insurance

and mutual fund products, we should be able to earn many times more than that

amount.”

(3) Federal Bank:

Fed-ICICI Pru is an enviable partnership for any bank or an insurance company.

According to Chairman Shri K. P. Padmakumar, the bank foray into bankassurance is

logical extension of their desire to convert themselves into a complete financial

service provider and hence their tide up with the No. 1 insurance company. Going

forward federal has ambition to transform itself into one of the largest distributors of

life insurance and pension products.

According to Federal Bank chairman Shri. K. P. Padmakumar, “The bankassurance

arrangement between to leading organizations presents several mutually beneficial

advantages. While ICICI Prudential gets the benefit of a larger distribution network,

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Federal Bank is able to improve the range of financial products and services that it

can offer to its customers. Insurance company also benefit from strong personal trust

and bondage that branch managers have built with their customer base over the years.

(4) ICICI Bank :

ICICI Bank is our oldest and largest partner and the pioneer bankassurance in India.

With a multichannel distribution approach where insurance is woven into delivery

channel of the bank, this is India’s most advanced bankassurance model. M. S.

Chanda Kochhar, Executive Director ICICI Bank, in recent interview with

prudential corporation, discussed the ICICI Bank experience with bankassurance.

M. S. Chanda identified the portfolio of innovative products, a multi channel

distribution network and the ability to do pioneer paradigm initiatives as some of the

strengths of ICICI Prudential.

She mentioned specifically the “salary account” and the “private banking” channels

where we have been doing business together and have a good business potential in

future as well M. S. Chanda dwelt on the strengths, especially the vast multichannel

distribution network and the consumer franchise that ICICI Bank enjoys in India, and

how it is supplemented by the knowledge and expertise of prudential life insurance

business.

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(5) Lord Krishna Bank:

Lord Krishna Bank is another one of our partners based in Kerala. Starting with 7

branches in Kerala, the tie up has now extended to 50 plus branches in the last 8

months.

Mr. S. R. Sinha, Senior Vise- President, Lord Krishna Bank on the tie up with ICICI

prudential. “The concept of bankassurance is an excellent fit with Lord Krishna

Bank’s strategy to become a new- age bank that imbibes the spirit of change and

innovation. As a new avenue of growth, it enables the bank to expand its service

range to its valued customers and provides an additional revenue stream to the bank.

The goodwill and strong client base of Lord Krishna Bank and ICICI Pru. Life’s

expertise in the life insurance business is sure to make tie up a success story.”

(6) South Indian Bank:

One of our oldest relationships, going for ward wishes to make insurance as one of

the key contributor towards bank‘s fee based income. After having established the

referralm, odlin, Kerala, SIB now has plan to step up business by including regions

outside Kerala under its focus and provide the require inputs.

Shri. A. Sethum A.Dhavan, Chairman & CEO of The South Indian Bank Ltd says

“Bankassurance is the most preferred distribution channel for life insurance products the world

over. Indian banks are replicating this model with great expectations to augment their income

stream. SIB considers this more as an alternative product that can be offered to its customers as a

part of its plan to offer variety of financial products and service all under one roof. We have

successfully completed a full year of fruitful relationship ICICI Prudential in marketing its life

insurance products under a referral arrangement.”

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CORPORATE AGENTS

ICICI Prudential has tie up with Corporate Agents. Some them are as under :

(1) Access Hospitality Services :

The top performing corporate agents from Punjab have been with us for one and a half years.

AHS started by husband and wife couple of Sanjeev Sharma and Sangeeta Sharma a nine

years ago, entered in to a partnership with ICICI Prudential in Dec. 2001, with help of their

excellent sales practiced and execution they have done very well since then. Today they are

one of the leading corporate agents of ICICI Prudential.

(2) Advance Financial Services :

AFS has been our partner for over a year now. Advance Financial Services is part of the

Karvy Group, one of the India’s leading financial services companies. Karvy’s strong work

ethic and professional background, leveraged with information technology enable it to deliver

quality to individual customers. This synchronizes with ICICI Prudential mission of offering

the best advise to Indian consumers for life insurance and retirement solutions.

(3) Bajaj Capital Services:

Bajaj Capital are one of India’s fore most merchant bankers, investment advisors and

financial planners for the last 37 years and have had the honor of helping millions of

investors achieve their life’s goals. Bajaj Capital Services is a one stop financial supermarket

and today provides ICICI Prudential solution through specially trained consultants at its

outlets across the country.

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(4) Bluechip Online:

Bluechip and ICICI Prudential shared a mutually rewarding journey with their strong

presence in Mumbai and long lasting customer relationships, bluechip has shared synergies

with the distribution philosophy of ICICI Prudential. Bluechip have now taken the success of

the insurance partnership in Mumbai to its other branch location in India.

(5) India Infoline:

Mr. Atul Rastogi, Director India Infoline, say about their journey with ICICI Prudential:

“India Infoline was the first corporate agent for ICICI Prudential and the relationship has

gone from strength to strength in the last two and half years. ICICI Prudential has been the

industry leader in innovative products, marketing campaigns and promotion, rewards and

recognitions, which adds notches to their productivity. Going forward they are confident that

ICICI Pru’s vision of being the leading player in pension and insurance industry will be met

and India Infoline will be significant contributor in the same.

(6) Way 2 Wealth:

Way2weath is a premier investment consultancy firm that has been launched with aim of

making investing simpler, more understandable and profitable for the investors.

In line with way2wealth’s mission “ to be the pre-eminent destination for personalized

financial solutions helping individuals create wealth”, it has partnered with ICICI Prudential

to offer life insurance and retirement solutions through over 40 easily accessible investment

outlets spread across 20 major towns and cities in the country.

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Direct Marketing

ICICI Prudential also markets for its products though different ways like telecalling, mail etc. As

mentioned about branch network of ICICI Prudential above, they all are having their staff that is involved

in direct marketing for its product.

Distribution Strategy of ICICI Prudential

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Tied AgencyBankassurance & Alliances

Bankassurance

Corporate Agency & Brokers

Direct Marketing

Agency Force

20%

10%

70%

Tied Agency

In life insurance business wide distribution network and tied agency is biggest source of getting

more business for any company so developing them is key to increase share in the life insurance market.

LIC has 14,02,149 agents and 2248 branch offices as on 31st march 2007.

Tied agency is a substantial business channel for ICICI Prudential because 70% of business of

company comes from this channel. Company provides agency to individual whose age is between 25 to

40 years and, minimum qualification is 12 th pass. As we have seen, company’s major business comes

from this channel. ICICI Prudential is immensely concentrating on developing this channel. It has 53,000

advisors and it is planning to extend this number to 74000 by the end of the year 2006 – 2007. For that,

ICICI Prudential does many activity like they do direct marketing, they recruit management trainees on

fulltime project, they hold seminars, they also keep stall in big events for developing that channel. Unit

managers provide major support in developing this channel. Unit manager’s target is to recruit 30

advisors in 5 – 6 months time. Unit managers have around 25-30 advisors, who are recruited by them.

ICICI Prudential provides lots of benefits to the advisors like flexibility in timing, different

motivation factors like money, foreign trips, career building programs permission to access office etc.

Company called its offer to business opportunity for individual. People who accept companies business

offer and complete 100 hours training of IRDA for getting license to do business of life insurance, they

call them advisors of ICICI Prudential.

The project given to the management trainess involves developing business channels called Tied

Agency. I did this task for sixteen weeks. I adopted various techniques for Data Collection which are

discussed later in the methodology section .Apart from this, we were also given an opportunity to present

new and develop some creative ideas in order to target HNIs. We came out with some creative ideas like

distributing scratch cards at departmental stores, petrol pumps etc. and we also fixed up the limit of

money spent by the people so targeted only the higher segment.

ICICI Prudential has recruited and trained over 53,000 insurance agents to interface with and advise

customers. Further, it leverages its state-of-the-art IT infrastructure to provide superior quality of service

to customers.

The company also realized that backward areas like Andhra Pradesh are not aware of insurance and

insurance companies have a limited reach. So, ICICI Prudential has also started providing services here to

ITC e-Choupals. Sanchalak is the referral agent and each sanchalak has sold almost 1-27 policies in the

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pilot phase. There are 90 kiosks in the pilot phase and 1500 kiosks have been proposed. Also ICICI

Prudential along with ICICI Lombard has launched n-Logue kiosks in Madurai. Kiosk operator is the

referral agent.

The following table shows the way the company has grown from 2001 to 2004:

Financial Year Cities Branches

2004 54 70

2006 84 97

2004 115 109

TECHNOLOGY

To see how successful the company is in reaching out to its customers, it is necessary to see the

technology initiatives of the company. It is a kind of communication channel, but it is put in this head as

it deals exclusively with technology.

With over 26 branches spread across the country, Prudential ICICI found it imperative to have a system in

place to connect each branch with the main office in Mumbai.

Previously the company used to rely on a Fox Pro database. But the system was not flexible enough to

serve the needs of a rapidly growing organization. Bureaus across the country used to photocopy the

applications received by customers and then courier it to the Mumbai office. The applications were

scanned and then entered into the database. The quality audit took place 2-3 days after the application was

received. The final account statement was created after the quality audit. There was a 7-10 day gap

because of this process leading to a longer turnaround time per application. Customers who wanted

redemption within a week faced a problem with this system. Also, if a particular office received more

than the usual number of applications it used to increase the load on the system as well as the personnel,

which in turn led to delays in transactions.

Another area that required smoothening out involved the dispatch of statements to the customer. Earlier

around 60-100 statements were printed everyday and were then faxed to the customers. This was not only

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time consuming but expensive as well, as each statement ran into minimum of three pages. Also, valuable

human resources were occupied in non-productive work like redialing the fax number in case the receiver

was busy at the other end.

The solution to this issue

The priority was to implement a centralized database. Data is entered through the front-end tool

PowerBuilder, which is now getting phased out and replaced by a client/ server based system. Prudential

ICICI now uses Oracle for taking care of its backend needs. With the centralized database, if there is an

overload of applications received in any particular branch, then the central pool of people in Mumbai

distributes the load. The extra load is diverted to the area where the resources are relatively free. 20 of the

26 branches have been connected via a leased line. The backbone supporting the network is that of parent

company, ICICI Bank. Hence, each Prudential ICICI Branch is connected to the local ICICI Bank’s LAN

network. The centralized database has helped the company in providing better customer service. Now, a

customer is not attached to any particular branch. They can get their queries answered from any branch in

the country.

The branches no longer courier the applications to the Mumbai office. The details are entered into the

system on the same day using Hummingbird, which has been customized to suit the company’s needs.

The advantage of the system is that along with the data even the image is now available for viewing and

verification. Hummingbird has made it possible for the company to capture and index paper-based

documents and manage them in tandem with the electronic content. Digitisation of the content has made

it possible for users to enjoy immediate access to critical resources. Document metadata and text-based

image content is captured and indexed to support user queries, and the way images are shared and revised

have been fine-tuned with flexible security controls.

Due to the immediate availability of details in the application, the quality audit now happens on the same

day. This has reduced the turnaround time to 24 hours.

Cost cutting and operational efficiency

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Prudential ICICI has developed RightFax faxing solution for handling faxing requirements. Close to 100

final statements are prepared and faxed each day, with each statement running into at least 2-3 pages. The

automation of this process has resulted in tremendous cost savings for the company.

Prudential ICICI has been able to bring about greater efficiency in sending and receiving documents

electronically from desktops, e-mail, and other business applications by integrating fax, e-mail and

Internet technologies. Information like history file, name of sender, time sent, destination address, billing

code/s, etc. are also readily available with this system. Security has been enhanced as incoming faxes can

be routed immediately to the addressee’s mailbox by direct selection on arrival (DSA). Outgoing faxes

are sent during off-peak hours to lower operating costs. Transmission is also faster than manual faxing.

Digitisation has also enabled the ASA to cut down on cost of photocopying each transaction for storage

purposes. The bank conducts between 800-1200 transactions per day on an average. Each transaction

takes up at least three pages. This results in the generation of a lot of paper. Now with all transactions

stored online, the company has seen a tremendous reduction in paper wastage as well as in the cost of

photocopying each page. Searching has also been made easier and human resources are now free for

handling core activities.

Call centre facility

The company has also introduced call centre facilities for its customers in Mumbai. This is one facility,

which is currently unique in the mutual fund industry in India. Now, customers can conduct redemption

and purchase over the phone. As a separate call centre is not a feasible option the company has integrated

its system with the ICICI Bank call centre in Mumbai.

Website

The Pru ICICI website provides a phenomenal amount of educational material related to mutual funds and

the products on offer. Currently, there are 1,500 people registered for online transactions. The company is

planning to add more payment gateways to make it possible for each customer to access information

related to his account over the net.

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3. HR PRACTICES

The topics covered under this are:

HR Mission

Recruitment and Selection

Performance Management

Compensation and Reward

Innovation in HR Practices

Training and development

HR MISSION

The people strategy of ICICI Prudential is “To build a committed team with a culture of innovation,

learning and growth”. The Human Resource Function at ICICI Prudential drives the people strategy of

the business. With its initial focus on operational excellence to deliver benefits and services to staff

members, HR is now committed to building capability through state of the art processes.

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RECRUIMENT AND SELECTION

ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company offers jobs to be either an advisor or an employee. They

believe that the advisors are the ambassadors to the customers. That is why, they take a lot of care in

recruiting and developing their advisor force, so that they continue to set higher standards of quality in

service and salesmanship. To cater to the needs of the knowledge-oriented marketplace, the company

looks for graduates who are service-oriented, good communicators and enjoy meeting new people.

Prior sales experience is an added benefit.

Some of the qualities that the company seeks are:

Self-motivation

A master communicator

A go-getter

A graduate

As an employee, a candidate can apply for jobs at ICICI Prudential Life Insurance through their e-

recruitment section. The site provides a resume builder, also options of various functions in which a

candidate would like to work in.

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PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT

At ICICI Prudential, career development is emphasized upon from the very day the advisor joins the

system. Though individual meetings with his or her manager, the advisor can discuss various issues

related to business development and career enhancement. Expectations from the organization in terms of

chalking a career in the insurance industry are also discussed.

Tiger Team:

ICICI Prudential offers the “Tiger Team” programme for identified high potential advisors. Hand picked

by the management, these advisors are placed on a fast-track career path and recognized as ‘Tiger

trainers’. The advisors can participate in this programme, subject to certain criteria being fulfilled.

Pinnacle Program:

Absorption into the management is another career enhancement option provided at ICICI Prudential

through the Pinnacle Program. This program helps advisors build a full time career as a unit manager in

the organization, offering great potential for managing a team of advisors and personal development.

‘Fast track Pinnacle’ programme is also available to advisors who are able to meet the performance

criteria within the stipulated time.

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COMPENSATION AND REWARD

ICICI Prudential advisors are constantly recognized and rewarded for their performance. Numerous

contests all year round promote healthy competition amongst advisors and recognition for their efforts.

Depending on the level of business the advisor achieves in a year, he or she can become a member of

various clubs such as the President’s club, ICICI Pru Star International and the ICICI Pru Star

India club. Each of these clubs have specific performance criteria for qualification and members of these

clubs are entitled to attend seminars held at the exotic international and domestic locations each year.

Advisors can also qualify for the renowned MDRT (Million Dollar Round Table), an exclusive

international insurance advisors club.

INNOVATION IN HR PRACTICES

In an effort to improve employee morale the company has adopted IT for its HR processes. The entire

history of employees and their payment schedules have been made available online and a reimbursement

model has also been incorporated into the system. Claim redemption and leave sanctioning, which was

earlier a long drawn process has now been reduced to a minimum through automation of the process.

Previously, tracking of vouchers used to pose a problem. But with Lotus Notes being used as a

messaging platform, vouchers are sent straight to the person in charge and on approval the voucher is

transferred to the financial department and money is transferred to the bank.

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TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT

Advisors go through both generic and specific, professional programs that help them remain well-

informed and knowledgeable about the company’s products in the market. There is a further focus on soft

skills such as communication, managing long-term relationships and selling skills, which are very

relevant in a service-driven industry like life insurance.

The company also offers state of the art infrastructure training facilities coupled with an excellent faculty,

leading to an exceptional working environment. For advisors who might be occupied with their daily

business/professional routines, ICICI Prudential also offers convenient training options such as online and

self-learning are also provided by the organization.

A 17-day training schedule covers the mandatory IRDA training requirements and ICICI Prudential

product-training module. Revision session ensure that the candidates thoroughly understand the course

contents and are well prepared for the licensing examination. Theoretical training is interspersed with

practical appointment settings with potential customers, giving advisors a feel of how their business will

work from the very first day. All through, the Unit Manager and the management provide continuous

support to the advisors in achieving independence towards garnering business. ICICI Prudential conducts

an extensive Training to make a person a Professional Advisor. Some of its training programs are listed as

under:

State-of-the-art training on:

Selling skills

Product knowledge

Relationship skills

Training delivery through several convenient options:

Face to Face

Online

Self learning

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INSURANCE REGULATORY &

DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY (IRDA)

Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) is constituted by the Government of India,

which governs all the companies that are operating in the insurance sector in India. As per the section 4 of

IRDA Act' 1999, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA, which was constituted by an

act of parliament) specify the composition of Authority. 

The Authority is a ten member team consisting of

    (a)    a Chairman;

    (b)    five whole-time members;

    (c)    four part-time members,

(all appointed by the Government of India.)

MISSION OF IRDA

To protect the interests of the policyholders, to regulate, promote and ensure orderly growth of the

insurance industry and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.

Duties, Powers and Functions of IRDA

Section 14 of IRDA Act, 2000 lays down the duties, powers and functions of IRDA. The Authority shall

have the duty to regulate, promote and ensure orderly growth of the insurance business and re-insurance

business.

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The powers and functions of the Authority shall include:

(a) Issue to the applicant a certificate of registration, renew, modify, withdraw, suspend or cancel

such registration;

(b) Protection of the interests of the policy holders in matters concerning assigning of policy,

nomination by policy holders, insurable interest, settlement of insurance claim, surrender value

of policy and other terms and conditions of contracts of insurance;

(c) Specifying requisite qualifications, code of conduct and practical training for intermediary or

insurance intermediaries and agents;

(d) Specifying the code of conduct for surveyors and loss assessors;

(e) Promoting efficiency in the conduct of insurance business;

(f) Promoting and regulating professional organizations connected with the insurance and re-

insurance business;

(g) Levying fees and other charges for carrying out the purposes of this Act;

(h) Calling for information from, undertaking inspection of, conducting enquiries and

investigations including audit of the insurers, intermediaries, insurance intermediaries and other

organizations connected with the insurance business; control and regulation of the rates,

advantages, terms and conditions that may be offered by insurers in respect of general

insurance business not so controlled and regulated by the Tariff Advisory Committee under

section 64U of the Insurance Act, 1938 (4 of 1938);

(i) Specifying the form and manner in which books of account shall be maintained and statement

of accounts shall be rendered by insurers and other insurance intermediaries;

(j) Regulating investment of funds by insurance companies;

(k) Regulating maintenance of margin of solvency.

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Name of Private Companies Register for Life Insurance Business

Yr: 2000-2004 : ( From 2nd April '2000 to 31st May'2004)

In the period of 2nd April 2000 to 31st May 2004, in life insurance business had 13 new entrance, namely

Legislation (as on 1.4.2000)

Sr. No. Reg. No. Date of Reg. Name of the Company

1 10123.10.2000

HDFC Standard Life Insu. Co. LTD.

2 104 15.11.2000 Max New Your Life Insu.Co. Ltd.

3 105 24.11.2000 ICICI Prudential Life Insu. Co. Ltd.

4 107 10.01.2001 OM Kotakmahindra Life Insu.Co. Ltd.

5 109 31.01.2001 Birla Sun Life Insurance Co. Ltd.

6 110 12.02.2001 TATA AIG Life Insurance Co. Ltd.

7 111 30.03.2001 SBI Life Insurance Co. Ltd.

8 114 02.08.2001 ING Vysya Life Insu. Co. Pvt. Ltd.

9 116 03.08.2001 Allianz bajaj Life Insu. Co. Ltd.

10 117 06.08.2001 Metlife India Insu. Co. Pvt. Ltd.

11 121 03.01.2002 AMP Sanmar Assurance Co. Ltd.

12 122 14.05.2002 Aviva life Insu. Co. India Pvt. Ltd.

13 12706.02.2004

Sahara India Insu. Co. Pvt. Ltd.

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Insurance is a federal subject in India. The primary legislation that deals with insurance business in India

is: 

Insurance Act, 1938, and Insurance Regulatory & Development Authority Act, 1999.

New products, innovative distribution, and better use of technology are helping the new breed of private

life insurers to take market shares away from the monopolist of yesterday. Time was, if you wanted to

buy a life insurance policy, you called a LIC advisor referred to you by a friend or a relative. These days,

you don’t have to go in search of an advisor. He comes after you. There has been a sea change in the life

insurance industry. Now private life insurance companies are the market leaders. They use all sort of

marketing tricks such as DIRECT MARKETING, ALLIANCE MARKETING and a new

BANKASSURANCE. ICICI PRUDENTIAL LIFE INSURANCE CO. LTD. is the new dominant player

in the life insurance industry. Aggressive selling strategies are the order of the day.

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PROJECT PROFILE

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2.1OBJECTIVES To study recruitment process at ICICI PRUDENTIAL LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY.

To study the current life insurance market scenario.

To study and formulate necessary criteria required being successful life advisors

and offering necessary suggestions to the company.

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2.2 Significance of the study: -

To the researcher: -

The study provides an enormous set of knowledge base to the researcher regarding the

recruitment process of ICICI PRUDENTIAL LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY.

It gave a chance to use the conceptual knowledge in actual environment and prepares the

researcher to use the knowledge for better in his future endeavors.

The study is essential for the researcher in partial fulfillment of M.B.A. curriculum. The study

gave the researcher the experiences to conduct survey.

To the company: -

The study is beneficial for ICICI PRUDENTIAL LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY, the study

reveals various aspects that would be beneficial for the company to formulate their strategies so

that, they can face the future challenges to cope up with the possibility of competition with other

companies catering the LIFE INSURACE sector.

To the others: -

The study gave an insight into various aspects that would generate a vision to those who are

interested to associate themselves with the company.

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This study would also generate awareness in the mind of persons who are interested or would be

interested after study this research regarding the agency recruitment process of the company.

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2.3METHODOLOGY

In this section of my project, the requirement is to describe the sources of collecting

primary and secondary data. For collecting primary data, method adopted was focus group

method.

For the purpose of study of Agency recruitment at ICICI PRUDENTIAL life insurance

Company, the researcher has given BOP, telephonic conversations to the people for recruitment.

For studying the current insurance market scenario, an exhaustive study and compilation

of report was done from the data provided by the company form their database besides using

other sources like yellow pages, reference data.

For studying the necessary criteria required to be a successful life advisor, a study was

made on the topic of analyzing the current set of criteria set up the company for recruiting the

Life Advisors.

1. Defining the problem and research objective: -

The research objective states what information is needed to solve the problem. The objective of in the

present study is to make people aware about the agency recruitment at ICICI PRUDENTIAL LIFE

INSURANCE COMPANY and observe the whole process and make any conclusion about the whole

process whether it is adequate and there is no need to change or any suggestion which might dug up

during the research and might help the organization to improve it's recruitment process.

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2. Developing research plan: -

Once the problem is identified, the next step is to prepare a plan for getting the

information needed for the research. Study will adopt descriptive approach.

3. Collection and sources and sources of data: -

This kind of research requires two kinds of data i.e. primary data and secondary data.

Being the descriptive research, data gathering will involve usage of both primary data and

secondary data.

Sources of primary data: -

A. Natural Market

Relatives

Friends

Neighbors

B. Stall Operation

C. Survey

D. Seminar (Focus Group)

Here at Jaipur city the researcher has to face the problem of having no

natural market. So the researcher has to concentrate upon other sources of primary

data viz. stall operations, survey, seminar and other techniques for primary data

collection.

The researcher uses observation technique to gather primary data for the

research, in which the researcher uses non-participative observation to gather

information from the respondents.

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Apart from that researcher has to use secondary data to get a insight in the

research problem. Here mostly secondary data are providing by the company. The

sources of secondary data are as follows: -

Source of secondary data: -

1. Yellow Pages

2. Database of different companies LI\GI Agents

3. Telecalling leads

4. Reference data.

The main objective is to get an insight into how people think rather then

measuring how many think.

Sampling plan: -

4. Sample unit : -

The respondents will be the people of Jaipur city. The researcher stratified the city

into 5 high traffic points according to demographics and life style etc.

These high traffic points of Jaipur are as follows: -

A. Malvia nagar

B. C-scheme

C. Ajmeri gate

D. Banni park

E. Mansarovar

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5. Sample size: -

Sample size consists of 250 respondents.

6. Analyze the collected information: -

This involves converting raw data into useful information. It involves tabulation

of data using statistical measures mean and average. These data are based upon the data

provided by the company and during the research what the researcher observes about the

whole process.

7. Report research findings: -

This phase will mark the culmination of the research effort. The report of the

research finding will be a formal written document.

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2.4CONTACT METHOD

Initially, the instructions given by the company were to work on natural market Company, i.e.

relatives, friends, neighbors or the known ones. But being new to the city, this constraint of not

having the natural market was there. One of the methods used in recruitment was to call people

from Yellow Pages and take their appointments. Once the meeting is fixed with that person, then

a B.O.P i.e. Business Opportunity Presentation has to be given to him. This presentation helps to

a great extent in making that person know about the Company, the benefits that he/she will get in

getting associated with the Company. It just happens sometimes that a person might not

concentrate on what is being told to him but when that person looks at that presentation it

becomes easy to convince him as he is focused on the facts and figures mentioned in the

presentation.

Another method that can be followed to recruit agents for the company is that of leads which are

given by the Company. These are those people who have shown their interest in having the

agency to the telecallers. Once those people are interested, an appointment has to be fixed with

them and explain them in detail about the agency business and answering their queries.

The third method that can be followed is that of making cold calls to corporate offices, shops or

those people whom a student feels can become advisors or who might be interested in becoming

advisors. Here, the duty is to tell them about agency business, what they will get out of it and

finally closing the deal. If they still have some queries or questions which could not be answered

at that point of time, then they are requested to visit our office so that they may enquire about

their doubts from Unit Managers and thus making them satisfied that their association with the

Company is something which they will not regret. This method is also called PROSPECTING.

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2.5 TRAINING

At ICICI Prudential, the importance is given to training in a dynamic business environment. The

advisors go through both generic and specific, professional programs that help them remain well

informed and knowledgeable about the company’s products in the market. There is a further

focus on soft skills such as communication, managing long-term relationships and selling skills,

which are very relevant in a service-driven industry like life insurance.

 

State of the art infrastructure training facilities coupled with an excellent faculty, guarantee an

exceptional learning environment. For advisors who might be occupied with their daily

business/professional routines, ICICI Prudential also offers convenient training options such as

online and self-learning are also provided by the organization.

 

A 17-day training schedule covers the mandatory IRDA training requirements and ICICI

Prudential product-training module. Revision session ensure that the candidates thoroughly

understand the course contents and are well prepared for the licensing examination. Theoretical

training is interspersed with practical appointment settings with potential customers, giving

advisors a feel of how their business will work from the very first day. All through, the Unit

Manager and the management provide continuous support to the advisors in achieving

independence towards garnering business.

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2.6 LIMITATIONS As the movement throughout the city is not possible due to certain constraints so the

movement was quite restricted.

People are not ready to go for training. As the training period is of 17 days and it

involves full day, so it becomes difficult for them to leave their offices or shops for

such a long time.

The compulsion of selling 12 policies in a year also restricts them from becoming

advisors. If they do not fulfill this target, then their license is cancelled after a year.

Lack of trust on any company of Private Sector.

Lack of knowledge about the products of ICICI Prudential and their total and blind

faith on LIC.

Sometimes, fresh graduates want to become advisors but the company denies making

them an advisor as they are very fickle-minded and also unreliable.

There is a problem in targeting Chartered Accountants. ICAI, which is the governing

body of Chartered Accountants, does not allow them to become advisors. However,

now they have permitted some CA’s to become advisors, but these are only those

ones who are doing jobs somewhere and not allowed the ones who are doing their

practice. So, still this decision is very dicey.

Sometimes, even those people want to become advisors for the company who are not

a localite but then the major problem that they face is that they have got no natural

market, so they are very susceptible about their performance and whether they will be

able to generate business for the company or not, so they avoid to take up this

challenge.

It was a great problem to get appointments from people in the month of March as

most of them were busy in filing their returns.

Some people ask about comparative analysis with LIC.

Some people consider IRDA fees of Rs. 1000 as a constraint.

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Non-availability of part-time training.

All small towns are not open for doing this business.

One person cannot take Life Insurance Agency of two different Companies.

Time constraint is the biggest constraint in taking up the study.

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FACT AND FINDINGS

These figures are based upon the researcher’s observation and the data provided by the

organization.

% share in the market

L.I.C.I.C.I.C.I. PRU.

BAJAJ ALL

OTHERS L.I.C.

I.C.I.C.I. PRU.

BAJAJ ALL

OTHERS

From this pie chart we can figure out one fact that still the faith of people or a major part of

people are with L.I.C. and private sector companies have to do a lot to improve their situation

and increase their stake in the market.

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Age group of people showing intrest to become agent of the organization.

20-30 yrs.30-40 yrs.

40-50 yrs.

20-30 yrs.

30-40 yrs.

40-50 yrs.

We stratified respondents into 3 age- groups and from this we can find out one thing that

respondents who are in between 20 years to 30 years has shown keenness to become agent of the

company and this tendency is very much low in the respondents, who belongs from age-group

40-50 .Young generation shows their risk taking ability and wants to associate themselves with a

private company and as the age increase risk taking tendency seems to be decreases and they

choose a safe path, that is why people from age group 40-50 shows less interest in becoming a

agent of private company. They prefer government job as a safer option.

91

Process of recruitment at ICICI PRU.

V.GOOD

GOODSATISFACTORY

BAD

V.BAD V.GOOD

GOOD

SATISFACTORY

BAD

V.BAD

From this figure we can find out that how the respondents think about the process of recruitment at ICICI PRUDENTIAL. From this figure we can say that still there is a need to improve the process of recruitment at ICICI PRUDENTIAL. The recommendations are placed at suggestion section.

People are not ready to go for training. As the training period is of 17 days and it

involves full day, so it becomes difficult for them to leave their offices or shops for

such a long time.

Lack of trust on any company of Private Sector.

Some people ask about comparative analysis with LIC.

Less awareness of life insurance among the people.

It is very hard to convince people to become advisor.

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The whole process is quite rigid.

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SUGGESTIONS

Expand Distribution Network In Semi Rural Areas

- Start business in all small towns.

Target Semi Rural Market

- Offer agencies to localite people.

- Open operation offices with highly educated team.

OTHER SUGGESTIONS

1. Provide lower premium policies so that we could target middle class people and generate

good cash flow for further growth.

As per BCG matrix to ensure long-term value creation, a company should have a portfolio

of products that contains both high-growth products in need of cash inputs and low-growth

products that generate a lot of cash. ICICI Prudential has high-growth product in urban

market but company should follow the low growth product strategy also in urban market.

2. Start advertisement campaign again on television, radio and Internet also. Do intensive

marketing for business opportunity and products both.

3. Keep more seminar and target LI/GI agents, CAS, Tax consultant financial investor etc.

4. Provide best motivation to Agency holders.

5. Build trust upon customers through services and transparency in investment and other

policy.

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6. Provide all branches in local language.

7. Provide part time training.

8. Focus on any mass marketing activity for generating awareness of company among people

and offering them business opportunity too.

9. Hold stall activity in different places.

10. Do some social activities through which company could get benefit of marketing indirectly.

11. Try to collect data of Life/General insurance agents across India and invite them to

associating with ICICI Prudential.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

www.iciciprulife.com

www.ipruuniverse.com

www.icici.com

www.irdaindia.org

www.indiacore.com

www.maxnewyorklife.com

Insurance Plus

Business India

Economic Times

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C O N C L U S I O N

I have done my summer training at ICICI PRUDENTIAL LIFE INSURANCE

COMPANY, Jaipur. My project title was :

“Agency recruitment at ICICI PRUDENTIAL LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY".

The objective of the study is to make people aware about the agency recruitment at ICICI

PRUDENTIAL LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY and observe the whole process and make any

conclusion about the whole process whether it is adequate and there is no need to change or any

suggestion which might dug up during the research and might help the organization to improve

it's recruitment process.

To accomplish the project I choose five high traffic areas and start taking my samples

from there.250 was my sample size for the project. My research was descriptive by nature, apart

from that I gave B.O.P. and telephone calls to people for agency recruitment. During the project

my other task was to give suggestions if any to improve the agency recruitment process.

From this project we are able to collect some information that is as follows:

The faith of people or a major part of people are with L.I.C. and private sector companies

have to do a lot to improve their situation and increase their stake in the market.

We stratified respondents into 3 age- groups and from this we can find out one thing that

respondents who are in between 20 years to 30 years has shown keenness to become

agent of the company and this tendency is very much low in the respondents, who

belongs from age-group 40-50. Young generation shows their risk taking ability and

wants to associate themselves with a private company and as the age increase risk taking

tendency seems to be decreases and they choose a safe path, that is why people from age

group 40-50 shows less interest in becoming a agent of private company. They prefer

government job as a safer option.

People are not ready to go for training. As the training period is of 17 days and it involves

full day, so it becomes difficult for them to leave their offices or shops for such a long

time.

Lack of trust on any company of Private Sector.

Some people ask about comparative analysis with LIC.

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Less awareness of life insurance among the people.

It is very hard to convince people to become advisor.

The whole process is quite rigid.

After observing all the facts regarding agency recruitment process my some of my suggestions

are as follows: -

Expand Distribution Network In Semi Rural Areas

- Start business in all small towns.

Target Semi Rural Market

- Offer agencies to localite people.

- Open operation offices with highly educated team.

Provide lower premium policies so that we could target middle class

people and generate good cash flow for further growth.

Focus on any mass marketing activity for generating awareness of

company among people and offering them business opportunity too.

Start advertisement campaign again on television, radio and

Internet also. Do intensive marketing for business opportunity and

products both.

98