Page 7 - Insurance Times August 2018

Vijay Srinivas appointed Director & GM of United In- ECGC to halve export
dia Insurance
credit cover for banks
United India Insurance Company announced the appointment of K B Vijay Srinivas
as its Director and General Manager with effect from In the backdrop of record claims pay-
July 1. ment of Rs.
1,283 crore
Prior to taking up the new role, he was serving National in FY2018,
Insurance Company Ltd as its Chief Marketing Officer government-
and General Manager, a press release said. owned ECGC
has decided
Srinivas, in his 37 years of service, has also contributed
articles in journals of insurance, tax and other subjects. to reduce export credit cover for
A recipient of many awards, Srinivas is also an associ- banks to 50 per cent of the out-
ate member of Insurance Institute of India, it added. standing amount, against 65-75 per
cent earlier, and revise insurance
Digit insurance secures second round of funding premium upwards.

Digit Insurance has raised Rs 315 crore in a second round of funding from Fairfax The export credit agency has also
Holdings. This fund infusion will help the com- asked banks to seek its approval in
pany to expand its footprint across the coun- cases where the working capital lim-
try to smaller towns and strengthen its tech its of their large exporter clients ex-
platform as well. In first round of investment, ceed Rs. 600 crore.
Prem Watsa owned Fairfax's had put in Rs 350
crore in 2017. Of the total claims of Rs. 1,283 crore
paid out by ECGC in FY2018, banks
Fairfax is the largest shareholder of Digit. Digit accounted for a chunk (Rs. 1,131
Insurance is a subsidiary of GoDigit Infoworks crore). In FY2017, the corporation
which has raised the funds, while it has channelised Rs 310 crore into Digit In- paid claims amounting to Rs. 885
surance, Rs 5 crore has been invested in the parent company. crore.

Digit is planning to make buying and claiming insurance products simple and Referring to the move to reduce ex-
completely digitised for Indian consumers. The company has come up with in- port credit cover, Geetha
novative products like jewellery insurance, insurance against flight delays and Muralidhar, Chairman and Managing
others. Director, ECGC, said: “We have al-
ready discussed this with the Indian
"We are looking at major expansion opportunities for our product line as well as Banks’ Association. We have told all
our locations of operation and staff strength, looking at the growth path we the bank chiefs clearly how the
felt the need for this second round of funding," said Kamesh Goyal who is the (ECGC) portfolio has moved…
chief executive officer and the other major shareholder after Fairfax in the com-
pany. “As you all know, for the last three-
four years things have been on the
Goyal said that the locations that they are targeting are spread across towns decline with banks. So, we have told
like Siliguri, Ranchi, Patna, Gauhati in the east, Nagpur in Maharashtra, them that our covers will come down
Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu and Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir among other to 50 per cent for all large expo-
places. "Though our product line is mainly digitised, we have some physical pres- sures.”
ence in these locations mainly for sales support and relationship management,"
he said. "We have 525 people at present and we wish to scale it up by another A sector-wise break-up of ECGC’s
200 by September this year. claims payment to banks shows that
it paid claims amounting to Rs.
The company which claims to settle claims within 10 to 20 minutes over a phone 568.78 crore to the gems and
call, is targeting to reduce the time taken to seven minutes. Over mobile, the jewellery sector, Rs. 308 crore to the
company is settling around 20 claims per day which they intend to scale up to cotton sector (fibre, yarn, fabric, in-
around 100. With around 12 partnerships with corporate entities like Flipkart, cluding handloom), and Rs. 107 crore
Amazon, Paytm, Sterling Resorts and 1500 retail agents across India, Digit is for readymade garments and ho-
already selling around 6000 policies per day. siery goods.

The Insurance Times, August 2018 7