MobiKwik has partnered with ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company in order to offer a micro-insurance product exclusively on its app. Now, users of MobiKwik can Insure their lives for just 20 INR, and gain a cover of 1 Lakh INR. Micro-insurance is a heavily growing space in India. Ola also recently announced the availability of Life cover and Accidental death cover on its app.
Users have three options to choose from, depending on the kind of cover they want and the kind of premium they want to pay. A monthly premium of 30 INR gives users a cover of 1.5 lakh, while 40 INR gives users a cover of 2 Lakhs. This is not the first micro-insurance offering from MobiKwik. The brand had announced that it will be offering Accidental Death cover way back in November 2018. This micro-insurance policy had received a great response from the users of the app, which is probably what has inspired them to expand in this territory further. The accidental death cover offers a cover of 1 Lakh for a premium of Rs 20.
When asked about the same, Upasana Taku, one of the founders of MobiKwik, responded saying “Over the past 9 years, Mobikwik has designed products that are aimed at transforming the financial landscape and driving financial inclusion in India. Our foray into the life insurance category is in line with our vision to bring about an impactful change in the way financial services are distributed in India. As per a recent report by ASSOCHAM released in partnership with a research firm called APAS, the insurance industry in India is expected to reach $280 billion by 2020. The report also states that the life insurance industry in the country is expected to grow by 12-15 percent annually for the next three to five years.”
The Deputy Managing Director of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, Puneet Nanda, was also asked about the same. He said “The paperless onboarding process paves the way for MobiKwik’s large user base to purchase life insurance. Customer centricity is the core philosophy of both organisations and we look forward to a long and mutually beneficial relationship.”
Why is the micro-insurance space growing so rapidly?
Interestingly, micro-insurance is growing quite rapidly, in spite of the fact that the insurance covers are not that high. However, one cannot view the importance of this form of insurance through a privileged lens. This is mainly designed for lower-income families to be able to take care of their loved ones, without having to invest a very high premium every month. Older reports from IRDA conducted in the years 2010-11 showed that the microinsurance industry in India had generated 2.86 Billion INR during that year. At that time, over 3.65 million policies had been sold, which means that the lives of 18.9 million Indians had been insured that year.
With apps like MobiKwik offering these insurance policies, one can expect a higher distribution of these facilities among more people.
