Department of Posts and Oriental Insurance enter into agreement for sale of insurance products
The Department of Posts (DoP) and the Oriental Insurance Company have entered into an agreement for the sale of non-life products through the vast postal network. An agreement to this effect was signed here today in the presence of the Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology, Shri Su. Thirunavukkarasar and the Minister of State for Finance, Shri Anandarao V. Adsul. The Deputy Director General, Smt. Shoba Koshy signed on behalf of the Department of Posts and Shri B.K. Sarkar, General Manager on behalf of the Oriental Insurance Company. The Secretary, Department of Posts, Shri Vijay Bhushan and the Chairman-cum- Managing Director (CMD),Oriental Insurance Company, Shri S.L. Mohan later exchanged the documents.
The joint venture will be initially launched on a pilot basis through Post Offices in the selected districts of Kerala, Karnataka, Gujarat, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra. Thereafter, it will be extended in a phased manner throughout the country. The products available through the Post Office will include those specific to the needs of the urban and rural sectors and also the weaker sections of the society. The non-life insurance products include the policies for hospitalisation, personal accident, household goods, private vehicles, shops, cattle, pumpsets, poultry etc. Among those targeted specifically at the rural sector are Kissan Package Policy, Agriculture Pumpset Insurance, Raj Rajeshwari Mahila Kalyan Bima, Universal Health Insurance etc. The above policies can be conveniently purchased through any neighbourhood Post Office.
The DoP has traditionally been a provider of communication, banking and insurance services throughout the country. It has a vast network of 1,55,618 Post Offices in the country. This unique outreach and retailing capacity of the established postal network is proposed to be harnessed through this joint venture with a view to expand the customer’s access to general insurance policies all over the country including rural and remote areas.
In the field of insurance, DoP provides life insurance through its Postal Life Insurance (PLI) and Rural PLI schemes. While PLI is targeted at employees of Central and State Governments, the PSUs, Universities etc., Rural PLI provides life insurance to the entire rural sector. There are currently 27.68 lakh PLI policies with a total sum assured of Rs.14136 crore while in Rural PLI, which has been implemented only since 1996, 19 lakh policies have been procured with a sum assured of approximately Rs.8064 crore. During the current year, the target is to secure PLI policies for a sum assured of Rs.3427 crore and in RPLI a sum assured of Rs.7285 crore.
(Release ID :756)