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Rajalakshmi Menon

MUMBAI, Feb. 25

NEARLY 200 sugarcane farmers near Pune will have their life insured for a minimum sum of Rs 50,000 by next week, thanks to a group insurance cover being offered by SBI Life Insurance Company.

The group cover — the first to be launched by the company — will be offered to the farmers through State Bank of India's Akluj branch near Pune. The farmers are account holders of the bank.

Around 200 farmers have signed up with SBI Life for insurance against life and permanent disablement, the Chief Marketing Officer, SBI Life, Mr S. Muralidharan, told Business Line.

Under the scheme, a farmer can take insurance cover against loss of life or permanent disablement for a minimum sum of Rs 50,000 by paying an annual premium of just Rs 220. For an assured sum of Rs 1 lakh, the annual premium would be Rs 440.

The policy, which is renewable annually, offers the advantage of a premium that is both low and the same for all age groups, said Mr Muralidharan.

The policy will have minimum period of five to 10 years. But the farmers will have the flexibility to renew it every year.

SBI Life is offering a similar group scheme to SBI's fixed deposit holders in select branches. The annual premium for the fixed deposit holders will work out to Rs 240 for a minimum sum of Rs 50,000. The minimum deposit amount should be Rs 10,000.

Said Mr Muralidharan: ``To start with, the product will be offered in four branches on a pilot basis. But, over a period of time, it will be rolled out across the board for all SBI customers.''

The initial launch will be at the bank's Dadar Millennium branch, the Fort branch, the Borivili branch and the Akluj branch near Pune.

SBI Life, the insurance company promoted by State Bank of India, hopes to offer similar cover to several other groups. ``The group insurance policy not only makes the cost of the policy cheaper as compared to stand-alone policies, but also simplifies collection of premia and pools the risk,'' said Mr Muralidharan.

The product will be sold through the company's network of 500 agents. Besides, a mailing campaign will also be used to spread awareness on the product.

Said Mr Muralidharan: ``We will examine the customer response to the schemes in these branches, before going in for a country-wide roll out. It will then be analysed for regional preferences.''

The plan to offer group life insurance to farmers was based on the fact that the bank had a sizeable customer base of farmers.

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