Rural India rises with Mahindra Insurance Brokers
(Mahindra FinanceMahindra Insurance Brokers Ltd. (MIBL) began life with an equity capital of Rs.50 lakhs, and all of 14 people. Today, it numbers over 650 people, with PAT of Rs. 42 crore in F2014. Its solutions now reach over 1 lakh villages across India. From pioneering innovative solutions like Loan Suraksha, MIBL has continued to diversify its offerings with solutions like Arogya Suraksha which is for health insurance in addition to Motor insurance solutions. In September 2012, the company’s valuation stood at Rs. 520 crore.
Premium generated has grown from Rs. 24 crore in F2005 to Rs. 825 crore in F2014, reflecting its strong growth trajectory. MIBL has been a profit-making and dividend-paying company from year one. It started with a Profit After Tax (PAT) of Rs.1.73 crore in its very first year of operations, and also declared a dividend in the first year. A cash surplus and zero-debt company, its net worth as of December 31, 2014 was Rs.163 crore.
“As far as India is concerned, our Vision is to be India’s No. 1 insurance broker by 2015. We already occupy a leading position, and this dream is well within our reach. To give you an idea of how fast we are growing, the number of cases serviced since inception up to December 2014 crossed the 5 million mark, and in the last financial year alone, we serviced 1 million cases. Our ultimate goal is to reach every Indian household with an insurance solution,” says Dr. Jaideep Devare, Managing Director, Mahindra Insurance Brokers Ltd., who is one of the members of the company’s Founding Team.
MIBL provides Health, Wealth and Life solutions; covering health, vehicles/tractors and life insurance solutions across rural India. In short, providing, “Arogya, Dhan, Sampada”. “We are also very enthused with the vision of the new government at the Centre which intends to focus on health insurance for all, especially in rural India,” says Dr. Devare.
Protecting Rural India
MIBL has developed several innovative solutions like Loan Suraksha and Arogya Suraksha, specially designed to adapt to the prevailing conditions in rural and semi-urban areas. Loan Suraksha is a customised, innovative insurance solution offered to Mahindra Finance vehicle loan customers, through which, in the unfortunate event of the customer’s death, the outstanding loan amount is waived off and the vehicle can be retained by the customer’s family. MIBL co-created this unique solution along with Mahindra Finance and an insurance company, with a focus on customer centricity. Very often, there is no doctor present in a village to issue a death certificate. To facilitate the process of claim settlement for the customer’s family, MIBL worked with the insurance company to accept the proxy of a Panchayat or Sarpanch’s letter to this effect.
In Odisha, MIBL has serviced over 1,00,000 customers in the last five years by offering them various insurance solutions, reaching the benefits to over 5,000 villages across Odisha.
From a million to a billion
Having crossed the 1-million mark of cases serviced in F2014, MIBL now aspires to reach out to a billion people in India. MIBL’s vision also goes well beyond the horizon as it sets its eyes on the global market. A few years ago, MIBL added the Commercial line of business to focus on the Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) segment to offer risk management solutions. It also realised that if it wanted to be competitive and grow even bigger, it needed to evolve into a Composite broker which would encompass reinsurance broking as well. MIBL got a licence for reinsurance broking which allowed it to spread its wings globally. The company already has relationships in over 25 countries.
The company’s long-term vision: To be the first Indian company amongst the Global Top 100 Insurance Brokers in Revenue by 2020. For this pioneering company, the past – and the future – can perhaps be best summed up in three words, Aspire, Arise and Achieve. This eventful journey of 10 years has been very satisfying for the entire team. “It is incredibly fulfilling to be able to transform the lives of people and thereby drive positive change. Settling claims is the biggest learning for us. Years later, when you see the same families rehabilitated, you feel really good that you were able to make a difference. In fact, I think we have been living the credo of Mahindra’s Rise philosophy – Accept No Limits, Alternative Thinking and Driving Positive Change – since inception”, says Dr Devare.