Chennai: Insurers in India are having a hard time getting a grasp on their projected insurance claims experience.
Actuaries are not only redesigning health and life products to include Covid and related co-morbidities, they are also resorting to remarkable amount of data crunching as well as a lot of out-of-the-box thinking to make the products both profitable and affordable to the customers.
According to Peuli Das, appointed Actuary, IndiaFirst Life Insurance Company Limited, “India’s GDP has shrunk over 24 per cent this quarter. Different economists are theorising differently how it will be the next quarter. As such, the assumptions we make today can end up creating severe strains on the insurer’s finances in the not so distant future. Spurred by the crises, reinsurers too are implementing new ways of risk sharing like stop loss arrangements and financial reinsurance. It is a tough balancing act that the actuaries need to pull between the customers, shareholders, distributors and reinsurers”.
“The silver lining is heightened insurance awareness. Insurers are reacting to it with a slew of protection products, along with options to convert into pension or health insurance plans. Marquee online service providers are racing to partner with insurers to distribute products featuring life, health and pension benefits,” she added.
The insurers must ensure ongoing solvency and protect the future of its customers through sound business plans that are built on the back of balanced products and risk mitigation strategies.
She also noted that the insurance industry is taking serious strides towards developing online platforms for soliciting business and simplifying paperless digital application payments and renewal channels.
“Sourcing of business through tele and video underwriting have already seen the light of the day as also several other novel initiatives that mark the new age of digital processing,” she stated.