Innovation is a continuous process. Insurers try to design products looking to the needs of the customers. All insurance products cater to some or the other needs of the customers. However, there may still remain some needs which in absence of feedback are difficult to identify. In absence of real feedback insurers try to adopt different processes etc to assess the same to meet the emerging needs through more innovative products/riders. Further, innovation is an ongoing process as the needs of the customers continue to change. Sometimes IT changes also make the things possible which earlier looked unfeasible.

It is said that it is difficult to maintain product differentiation in the financial sector as other companies copy a successful product very fast. Do you think such a proposition is applicable to Indian insurance sector?

This is true because products are to satisfy real/imagined/presumed needs. Hence all specially attractive products are copied in almost all the sectors. However, companies try to differentiate so that products are not directly comparable.

How many products you have? How many are really contributing to your premium income? Have you already phased out some products or planning to do?

At present, we have 42 products. Around 20 of our products are contributing to most of our premium income. Review of existing products is a continuous process. As a result, we have already withdrawn some of our products and are working on modifications in some of the existing products.

Is price competition an issue while designing your product? What are the new trends from the customer point of view on which you are developing your current line of products?

If a company is selling an exclusive product, price competition may not be an issue. However, it may be an issue if several companies market similar products. But companies try to vary some features of their products so as to make them incomparable. Presently, customers like products which are flexible, transparent and allow them to make investment choices. Therefore, we have in our product portfolio plans which meet some or all of these needs. It may be clearly understood that the pricing of life insurance products be not judged on premium rates alone, but on total package including all benefits emerging from the product.