DIGIT secures biggest start-up funding round in general insurance arena
Digit Insurance, a new age insurance start-up, which wants to make insurance simple, has raised $44m in a second round of funding. The funding is the largest round in the Indian general insurance ecosystem. This investment brings Digit’s total funding to $94m.
Canadian billionaire Prem Watsa’s Fairfax Holdings has invested second round of capital ($45m) in Digit Infoworks, a parent company for Digit insurance of which a significant part of the investment ($44m) is given to Digit Insurance.
Bangalore-based Digit Insurance plans to invest the funds in technology to drive its mission of making insurance simple. A significant use of fund will also be invested in launching new lines of products and expansion of distribution network across the country.
Kamesh Goyal, founder & chairman, Digit Insurance, said, “Our investors have shown confidence in our mission of ‘Making Insurance Simple’ which is heartening. And this round of funding will further help us in doing that.
“Our long term investment is directed towards bringing in technology that can automate and fasten processes and resolve customer pain points. For example, 100% of our flight delay claims are automated and claims are processed in minutes; 87% of our claim approvals happen in just 24 hours due to innovations like smartphone-enabled self-inspections. We also believe that claims are the sole reason why a customer buys our policies, so for us claims are good.”
Digit has also successfully partnered with companies like Flipkart, PayTM, Cleartrip, Sterling Holidays, SOTC, Policy Bazaar and Tanishq with products like Screen Damage for mobile phones or the flight delay cover starting from 75 minutes.
Digit has diversified into mobile, car, two wheeler, travel, jewellery insurance and has built a large base of over 400,000 customers.
(Sourced from Asia Insurance Review)
Apex court urges IRDAI to decide long term auto 3rd party cover mandatory by 1 Sep,2018
The Supreme Court has said that long term third party liability insurance has to be made mandatory for four-wheelers and two-wheelers.
The Supreme Court Committee, headed by former apex court judge Justice K S Radhakrishnan, has recommended that at the time of sale of two or four wheelers, third party insurance should be made mandatory for a period of five and three years respectively.
In its report, the committee said that around 180 million vehicles were plying the roads of the country of which only 60 million had motor third party liability insurance. This means that some victims of road accidents were not getting compensation where there was no third party cover for the vehicles involved in the accidents.
The panel also said they had detailed discussions with the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, the IRDAI and the Department of Finance on this issue.
Industry sources say less than 45% of bikes and scooters are insured while only about 70% of four wheelers are insured. According to the Motor Vehicles Act, all vehicles running on Indian roads are mandatorily required to buy third party motor insurance. At present, insurance companies offer two-wheeler third party insurance for up to three years while car insurance has to be renewed every year. Every year, the IRDAI revises motor third party premium rates that take effect from 1 April.
Once the Supreme Court order is communicated to the IRDAI, the regulator will be required to issue a fresh set of premium rates for the two-year car insurance and five-year bike insurance in the motor third party category.
“We have less than two months to implement this order. There is no such product in the market at present. The bigger question is how the premium will be calculated,” said the underwriting head at a mid-sized private general insurer, referring to the Supreme Court determination.
Premium rates for a multi-year policy will be significantly higher. Insurance sources say it would not be a simple multiple of the premium for a one-year policy, and customers could be reluctant to spend a higher sum on the product.
It is estimated about 150,000 people lose their lives on Indian roads every year.
(Sourced from Asia Insurance Review)
ONLINE ADMISSION PORTAL OF JAMIA HAMDARD, DEEMED TO BE UNIVERSITY, HAS BEEN REOPENED TILL 31st JULY, 2018 FOR ADMISSION TO MBA INSURANCE PROGRAMME
School of Management and Business Studies, Jamia Hamdard, deemed to be University, is offering admission in 2 years, full time, MBA Insurance course, 2018-20. This is the only MBA Insurance course in India, where a University and the Insurance Industry has come together to design a truly professional course.
Fresh opportunity is being provided to students to apply for admission in MBA Insurance who could not do so earlier and to increase the intake of students in view of the demand of the insurance industry.
Jamia Hamdard, popularly known as Hamdard University has been climbing the ranking chart of the Govt. of India on various parameters of education as set by the Ministry of Higher Education and UGC. As per latest NIRF ranking by MHRD, Jamia Hamdard is ranked as 23rd best University in the country. Its has secured A grade in all three cycles of NAAC accreditation process, which very few institutions in India have undergone.
Getting admission in MBA Insurance in Jamia Hamdard is a sure gateway to a lucrative career in the fast growing insurance sector of India.
Indian Insurance sector to bypass IT sector in providing career opportunities
With the stagnation in the IT sector and the advent of Artificial Intelligence (AI) drastically cutting into the intake of new entrants, the Indian Insurance sector is becoming the highest growing service sector for career opportunities.
With a steady rate of growth of more than 11 % per annum and total premium earned for the year 2016-17 being INR 7,01,000 Cr, this sector requires thousand of insurance literate persons to sustain its growth, offering abundant job opportunities.
Students with the knowledge and qualification in Risk Management, General Insurance Management, Life Insurance Management, Health Insurance Management, Insurance Marketing, Claims Management, Third Party Claims Management, Underwriting Management, International Insurance, Actuarial Sciences, Re-insurance, Product Development, Loss Assessment and Adjustment, Insurance Broking, Insurance Software Development etc., can avail unending opportunities for successful careers in the insurance sector as
- Underwriter
- Claims Manager
- Sales Team Manager/Leader
- Agency Manager
- Accounts Officer
- Investment Officer
- IT officer
- Risk Manager
- R & D Manager
- Investigator/Assessor
- HR Manager/Trainer
- Re-insurance Manager
- Legal Officer
- Insurance Software Developer
- On-line Insurer
- Insurance Entrepreneur and Consultant
JOB POTENTIAL
In the present Indian insurance scenario, where there are thirty three non-life insurance companies, twenty four life insurance companies, six to eight re-insurance companies and hundreds of intermediary companies of Brokers, Third Party Administrators, Web Aggregators, Corporate Agents, Insurance Marketing Firms, Legal Firms, Surveyors and Loss Adjusters, Insurance Software Companies, Corporates having large insurance portfolios, Multispecialty Hospitals in tie-up with insurance companies, large Cooperative Societies running insurance schemes etc. require every year thousands of Insurance Professionals to run their enterprise.
This sunrise industry is an unexplored job market for the students’ community, whose understanding of a career in the insurance sector is surprisingly restricted to that of an Agent only. It is time that they should realize that the insurance sector offers some of the best career opportunities in India, if they have the right qualification, which is not hard to come by.