By IANS,
Dubai : Qatar’s Doha Bank has tied up with LIC (International), the overseas subsidiary of India’s Life Insurance Corp (LIC), to market a range of insurance, retirement and investment products in West Asia.
An agreement to this effect was signed by Doha Bank chief executive R. Seetharaman and LIC (International) managing director and chief executive Sudhin Roy Chowdhury, according to a Doha Bank statement.
“This tie-up will bring in huge value-addition that would benefit customers as both Doha Bank and LIC (International) are more of a household name in the region,” Seetharaman said in the statement.
“The best features of these (LIC) products are its portability, which is available to Indian expatriates when they return home. Doha Bank will offer a hassle-free mechanism for payment of premium for customers,” said A.V. Narayan, Doha Bank’s head of bancassurance, a bank’s insurance business.
“LIC products are well received by residents and expatriates alike in the region,” Roy Chowdhury said.
“The entire product range of LIC (International) will be available through Doha Bank and will include child education plans, retirement plans, term insurance plans and unit-linked products.”
Just prior to signing the agreement, LIC (International) had launched a new insurance product targeted at expatriate Indians.
Called Fortune Builder, it is a new units-linked insurance plan (ULIP) launched to mark the company’s 20th year of operations in the Gulf.
“The new product will cater to the investment as well as insurance needs of customers,” reports quoted Roy Chowdhury as saying.
“The product is a multi-benefit ULIP providing an opportunity to benefit from returns available in the Indian capital market as well as across the globe. It is positioned as a wealth generation tool that simultaneously offers life insurance protection,” he added.
Fortune Builder has three products – one aimed at the Indian equity market, another at the world market, while the third is flexible.
“It also provides an option to take back your money systematically over a period of five years on maturity of the policy. The premium paying terms are also highly flexible,” Chowdhury said.
The Gulf region is home to around 4.6 million expatriate Indians, with around 200,000 living in Qatar.
According to Chowdhury, LIC (International) has sold 128,446 insurance policies of $1.08 billion in the region.
Contributions to ULIP products from the Gulf last year amounted to Rs.20 billion.