synopsis on research work on culture

TOPIC OF THE RESEARCH:
STUDY OF ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE AND ORGANISATIONAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM OF CENTRAL CATTLE BREEDING FARM (CCBF), SURATGARH, RAJASTHAN.








NAME OF THE SCHOLAR: KAUSIK MUKHERJEE
RATIONALITY BEHIND THE REASEARCH WORK


With the fast process of globalisation and liberalization /internationalization the rural and the suburban related enterprises are being neglected from development point of view. Detail research studies and focus of the government is required for their development. These organizations must be strengthen to make our grass root level strong. This will increase the economic growth and economic development to a greater level. The industrial growth rate will also increase. All these things are only possible when organizations like CCBF which covers rural and urban part of subcontinent are well managed with positive organizational culture. The study will help CCBF to manage the organization in a better way and this study eill help other related sister organizations to gain organizational goals by positive organizational management and practice of good industrial culture . This study will enhance and encourage others scholars to study and develop better management practices and similar organizations and will attract the attention of the government towards such organizations .
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
This particular study is centered around the following objectives:
(a) To study in details about the organizational culture of CCBF
(b) To study about the organizational management pattern of CCBF
© To find out the effectiveness of the managerial practices in CCBF
(d) To find out the drawbacks on the decentralized hierarchy of the management
(e) To find out how we can suggest them to manager organisation in better way.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The size of the sample is 150 personnel (Executives and employees) working in CCBF. Almost the whole organization is dealt with. The geographical location of study is Suratgarh in the district of Sri Ganganagar in Rajasthan. The respondents are the director of CCBF, the executive of CCBF, the employees of CCBF and contractual laborers working for CCBF . They have been contacted in person, telephonically, through E-mails, through postal means and by visiting the organizations to get raw and unprocessed data. A very well structured questionnaire shall be distributed to the targeted sample to collect the primary research data. Interviews shall be conducted with the director and the executives of the CCBF. The primary data are proposed to be collected between 2008 to Jun 2009. Review at the appropriate times will be done to make the study meaningful and closest possible.
ORGANISTIONAL BACKGROUND IN A NUTSHELL
The foundation stone of the CCBF has been laid in 30Sep 1967. The organization started working practically in the year 1968. CCBF is geographically located 10 Km away from Suratgarh city and 60 Km away from district headquarter i.e. Sri Ganganagar.
Short term goal of CCBF
Production and distribution of pedigreed bulls and exotic /indigenous breeds for induction in state breeding programme.
Long term goal of CCBF
Genetic improvement of bovine population for enhancing milk production in the state and in turn in the sub- continent.
OBJECTIVES OF CCBF
Progressive genetic improvement for improvement of milk production by scientific selection
Testing bulls for their use in cattle development
Production and distribution of superior bulls for breeding programmes in the state and the country
Training and demonstration of scientific breeding and farm management practices to the farmers
Production and distribution of seeds and planting material for higher yield in the rural and sub-urban areas.
CHAPTERISATION OF STUDY
Modular pattern of study

Module 1
Introduction and general concept of research and methodology

Module 2
Background and history of CCBF Suratgarh
Module 3
Theories and philosophies regarding organizational culture, organizational development and culture building process.
Module 4
The main research work
Company (CCBF)
Survey of primary data from CCBF
Combining the data collected
Presentation of the data of CCBF
Use of quantitative techniques
Summary of main findings
Conclusion
Suggestions
Module 5
Bibliography and literature support
EXPECTED OUTCOMES OF THE STUDY
The negative aspect of the organizational culture of the CCBF
Corrective and healthy organization management can be suggested
The good aspect of organizational culture and organizational management will come out for all.
This study will contribute towards social and economy development of the state
This study will help the organization to gain its goal in a better way.
This will focus and review the organizational management practices in CCBF and other such type of organizations.

Bibliography and literary support
HRM in the 21st centrury Anup singh and Biju (2000)
Value creation - the challanger of HRM roles Biju and SP Rao
HRM - Changing roles and changing goals
Culture and values – Ramkrishna Math
The totally aligned organization By Rao Ananth .N
Work culture in the Indian context – BP Sinha
Managers and corporate culture – Parikh and Garg
Culture variables and managerial effectiveness – SK Mittra
ICFAI – Case studies HRM, Monthly magazines.
BLR event study- Internet

Bhujia Industry in Bikaner

Today Bikaner is identified for tasty, mouth watering Snacks Bhujia, Papads, Namkeens, which have titillated the plates of many a number of royal Rajput families through the age.
The Bhujia Industry has its origination dated back to 1887AD, when Maharaja Shri Dungar Singhji was manufactured as a special variety and was called ‘DUNAR SHAHI BHUJIA’. This was served to the royal guests with time, manufacturing Bhujia became livelihood of many inhabitants of the district. Since the district was drought prone district with only salty well water available for drinking, there was little scope in farming and agriculture. And thus Bhujia production gained momentum and a big Bhujia prepared in this area has special ingredient of moth (lentil) grown in this area and the different special taste can be attributed to salty well water available only in Rajasthan.
At present there are about 425 units producing bhujia in Bikaner district and nearby areas of Sri Dungargarh, Churu, Nagpur and Sri Ganganagar. Out of these only a few have proper plant and well planned production system, the rest are small and cottage type industries.
The raw materials required for industry are lentils, edible oil and condiments. While lentil is grown in Western Rajasthan i.e. in districts of Barmer, Jaisalmer, Bikaner, Churu, Nagaur and Jodhpur. The edible oil (Groundnut) is procured from Bikaner or from neighbouring state of Gujrat. The condiments are purchased from South India, directly or through dealers in Delhi. The raw material is thus abundant and easily available to Industry.
The major ‘Bhujia’ consuming mkt. In Rajasthan followed by Punjab and Haryana. Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Assam too are not far behind. Rajasthan consumes about 30% of the total produce annually and rest of the 70% is consumed by other states and with time the awareness and interest in ‘Bikaneri Bhujia’ has grown and spread all over the country and around the world too.
Recently export of Bhujia and namkeen from Bikaner has also gained momentum; The export of Bhujia has potential to grow much more, it only requires awareness on the part of manufacturer about the export prospects of the item, export producers, documentation and packaging.
The whole Bhujia industry is divided into two sectors.
(a) Unorganised (b) Organised
The unorganized sector consists of over 70% of the total Bhujia industry. These units are flourishing in the district because of high demand of the product and easy availability of raw material and also low setting up costs. The unorganized sector also includes small business and small-owners selling the snacks and sweets. Almost every second household in the city has women and girls making Papads. The major portion of this sector is inside the ‘walled city’ of Bikaner and Gangasahar area. An estimated number of 850 burners are used in this unorganized sector and around 80 to 100 kgs. of Bhujia per day which amounts to an annual production of 25,000 to 30,000 tons. This sector though unorganized and traditional, still poses a threat to the modern organized sector, as a large segment of Bikaner’s population is still price conscious and the price of the product ~unbranded Bhujia or ‘Khulli Bhujia’ in local jargon is around 30% less than the branded and packaged Bhujia.
The organized sector is the rest 30% of the Bhujia industry. The major players are Bikaji, Bhikharam Chandmal, Haldiram, Choudhary food products, Swad industries Pvt. Ltd., ‘Yes’ and Mr. Namkeen and many more.
‘Bikaji’ in Bikaner is major company in the branded Bhujia market. Another emerging name in this sector is of Bhikharam Chandmal’s sunsine food products. Bhikharam Chandmal has opted up a big showroom in Bikaner and has started distributing the products in some other states too. The companies of this sector have to face a tough competition given by multinationals like Lehar Namkeens and from Uncle Chips. The companies of Bikaner Bhujia Industry mainly use print media for advertising only Bikaji has used the broadcasting media for advertising. These companies themselves face enough competition from each other and soon will have to start employing other marketing strategies if they want to survive in this competitive market of Bhujia.
The present distribution channel of this product is mainly direct selling and employing sales force like sales representative and sales officers who extensively travel to book order for this respective companies besides this 3 units have appointed dealers throughout the country to market their products. The units adopting direct selling can think of marketing the item through dealership, which will help in enhancing the sales.
This industry is reported to be facing a lot of problems in regard to finance, electricity, taxation structure and entry of multi-nationals in the field.

on shivdeep industries in Bikaner

Shivdeep Industries Ltd. Was started in 1986, with its lead office in Bikaner. The company soon became a large manufacturing unit under the guidance of Mr. Shivratan Agarwal and Mrs. Sushila Agarwal.
The Company commenced business in the city central market. All the raw material from grains, oils and massalas to dry fruits, flour, vegetable oil and condiment are selected and purchased from amongst the best in the market. At the factory they are thoroughly processed in order to impact to their purity and prime position. In fact, a different section is devoted to this aspect of the manufacturing process.
All Bikaji snacks are made untouched by human hand, on fully automated machines in the most ultra-modern factory in Rajasthan.
A separate packaging unit has been set up to pack the product in a clinically hygienic environment.
Bikaji snacks are the talk of the town in almost the whole of India, they are already setting tongues talking in the middle east, part of Africa, USA, UK and Europe.
The company was rewarded with the National awards for industrial, excellence in 1992 – the first company to receive such an award in the category of food products.
Bikaji group of companies has three units under its umbrella; and besides food products, it is doing well in service sector also as in Hotel Basant Vihar Palace, catering to the up market crowd and established as one of the best hotels in Bikaner. The three units under Bikaji group of companies are Shivdeep Industries Limited, Shivdeep Food Products Pvt. Ltd. And Bikaji Food Products Ltd. Shivdeep Industries Ltd. produces Bhujia, Papad and sweets, Shivdeep Food Products Pvt. Ltd. produces potato chips and Bhujia Namkeens, Sweets – Rasgulla, Gulabjamun. The new unit of Bikaji Food Private Ltd. has started producing ‘Tourist Mineral Water’ a few years back only. The same management looks after all the three units. The grown curve of organization is a positive one, Bikaji is also planning to launch ‘tea’ very soon. It has the potential and plans for future expansion and diversification.
Shivdeep Industries limited is brainchild of Mr. Shiv Ratan Agarwal and Mrs. Sushila Agarwal, she has looked after and nurtured the company to its present position. And her talents and skills have been recognized and appreciated through out of the state. She was awarded ‘Presidents Award’ for Women Entrepreneur in 1997 and she is the first woman in state of Rajasthan to have won such a prestigious award. The company was rewarded with National Award for Industrial Excellence in 1992 – the first company to receive such an award in the category of food products. Mr. Shivratan Agarwal himself had been recipient of many awards for humanitarianism and contribution to the upliftment of the industry and its people.
Shivedeep Industries limited is situated in Bichwal Industrial Area, Bikaner. A unique feature of the company is that there is one company profile and therefore there is no job profile as such. Although there are departments like finance, productions and marketing but there is an informal structure where the manager finance can look into production and marketing if the need arises.
The company is a reputed one and its products come with a brand name ‘Bikaji’ the company is the only one, which provides a wide variety of snacks and savories. The company has a well-knit distribution system in India. It also exports its products to countries like Australia, Japan, Singapore and Europe too. The company’s export sales are about 2% of their total sales turnover which is around 40 crores.
The company is always trying to cater to the ever-increasing demand for more and more variety in namkeens by launching new flavors and new types of mixtures every now and then. Some new ones are Mastkin and Tanatan.
The company takes proper care of its workers and employees and they feel privileged to work with such a reputed firm. The company provides training to the workers on the job. There are about 1200 workers/employees in the company. They are provided with all the basic amenities a company should provide with, like group insurance for all the workers, medical aids, mess, etc. The company provides its employees with bonus, festival offers and likewise from time to time. They are also provided with leave encashment scheme.
The production takes place on a large scale. To provide its customers with the best quality and taste of Bhujia, The Company has a well established quality control lab. Every day the first lot is checked and then other lots are made, if the first one is fine. There are usually no complaints for the quality of the products. To meet the rising demand the company has installed many automatic machines and even installed high tech packaging machines procured from flex and digipack. The machines used for production are checked on a regular basis and are replaced or repaired as and when required. The raw material (lentils, edible oil, spices and condiments) are procured from Bikaner and if required edible oil is also purchased from Surat and other cities in Gujrat.
‘Bikaji’ has emerged as one of the finest names in Bhujia industry. Its traditional market consists of Northern India, especially states of Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Gujrat, Bengal and Assam. And in a nutshell it can be said that in a short period of fifteen years the company has made its position strong and its presence inveterate in the Bhujia industry.

A PROJECT ON SOCIAL MARKETING

CHAPTER 1. WHAT IS SOCIAL MARKETING
The health communications field has been rapidly changing over the past two decades. It has evolved from a one-dimensional reliance on public service announcements to a more sophisticated approach which draws from successful techniques used by commercial marketers, termed "social marketing." Rather than dictating the way that information is to be conveyed from the top-down, public health professionals are learning to listen to the needs and desires of the target audience themselves, and building the program from there. This focus on the "consumer" involves in-depth research and constant re-evaluation of every aspect of the program. In fact, research and evaluation together form the very cornerstone of the social marketing process.

Social marketing was "born" as a discipline in the 1970s, when Philip Kotler and Gerald Zaltman realized that the same marketing principles that were being used to sell products to consumers could be used to "sell" ideas, attitudes and behaviors. Kotler and Andreasen define social marketing as "differing from other areas of marketing only with respect to the objectives of the marketer and his or her organization. Social marketing seeks to influence social behaviors not to benefit the marketer, but to benefit the target audience and the general society." This technique has been used extensively in international health programs, especially for contraceptives and oral rehydration therapy (ORT), and is being used with more frequency in the United States for such diverse topics as drug abuse, heart disease and organ donation.
Like commercial marketing, the primary focus is on the consumer--on learning what people want and need rather than trying to persuade them to buy what we happen to be producing. Marketing talks to the consumer, not about the product. The planning process takes this consumer focus into account by addressing the elements of the "marketing mix." This refers to decisions about 1) the conception of a Product, 2) Price, 3) distribution (Place), and 4) Promotion. These are often called the "Four Ps" of marketing. Social marketing also adds a few more "P's." At the end is an example of the marketing mix.
Product
The social marketing "product" is not necessarily a physical offering. A continuum of products exists, ranging from tangible, physical products (e.g., condoms), to services (e.g., medical exams), practices (e.g., breastfeeding, ORT or eating a heart-healthy diet) and finally, more intangible ideas (e.g., environmental protection). In order to have a viable product, people must first perceive that they have a genuine problem, and that the product offering is a good solution for that problem. The role of research here is to discover the consumers' perceptions of the problem and the product, and to determine how important they feel it is to take action against the problem.
Price
"Price" refers to what the consumer must do in order to obtain the social marketing product. This cost may be monetary, or it may instead require the consumer to give up intangibles, such as time or effort, or to risk embarrassment and disapproval. If the costs outweigh the benefits for an individual, the perceived value of the offering will be low and it will be unlikely to be adopted. However, if the benefits are perceived as greater than their costs, chances of trial and adoption of the product is much greater.
In setting the price, particularly for a physical product, such as contraceptives, there are many issues to consider. If the product is priced too low, or provided free of charge, the consumer may perceive it as being low in quality. On the other hand, if the price is too high, some will not be able to afford it. Social marketers must balance these considerations, and often end up charging at least a nominal fee to increase perceptions of quality and to confer a sense of "dignity" to the transaction. These perceptions of costs and benefits can be determined through research, and used in positioning the product.
Place
"Place" describes the way that the product reaches the consumer. For a tangible product, this refers to the distribution system--including the warehouse, trucks, sales force, retail outlets where it is sold, or places where it is given out for free. For an intangible product, place is less clear-cut, but refers to decisions about the channels through which consumers are reached with information or training. This may include doctors' offices, shopping malls, mass media vehicles or in-home demonstrations. Another element of place is deciding how to ensure accessibility of the offering and quality of the service delivery. By determining the activities and habits of the target audience, as well as their experience and satisfaction with the existing delivery system, researchers can pinpoint the most ideal means of distribution for the offering.
Promotion
Finally, the last "P" is promotion. Because of its visibility, this element is often mistakenly thought of as comprising the whole of social marketing. However, as can be seen by the previous discussion, it is only one piece. Promotion consists of the integrated use of advertising, public relations, promotions, media advocacy, personal selling and entertainment vehicles. The focus is on creating and sustaining demand for the product. Public service announcements or paid ads are one way, but there are other methods such as coupons, media events, editorials, "Tupperware"-style parties or in-store displays. Research is crucial to determine the most effective and efficient vehicles to reach the target audience and increase demand. The primary research findings themselves can also be used to gain publicity for the program at media events and in news stories
SEVEN STEPS TO SOCIAL CHANGE


A set of Seven Doors

Elements of the model
This model allows us to identify which elements are already being fulfilled, and so concentrate resources on the gaps.
The seven elements are -
knowledge
desire
skills
optimism
facilitation
stimulation
reinforcement
1. Knowledge/awareness
An obvious first step is that people must -
know there is a problem;
know there is a practical, viable solution or alternative. This is important. People are practical - they will always demand clear, simple, feasible road maps before they start a journey to a strange place.
identify the personal costs of inaction and the benefits of action in concrete terms people can relate to (ie. they 'own' the problem).
An awareness campaign aims to harness people's judgement.
2. Desire - imagining yourself in a different future
Change involves imagination. People need to be able to visualise a different, desirable, future for themselves.
This is different to being able to recognise rational benefits.
Desire is an emotion, not a kind of knowledge. Advertising agencies understand this well - they stimulate raw emotions like lust, fear, envy and greed in order to create desire. However, desire can also be created by evoking a future life which is more satisfying, healthy, attractive and safe.
To design a campaign that harnesses your audience's imaginations, you'll have to start by liberating your own (I'm the first to admit that in an era where everything has a strategic plan, this can be difficult!)
3. Skills - knowing what to do
Being able to easily visualise the steps required to reach the goal. This is not about emotion - it is purely rational (it is what we have rationality for).
People learn skills best by seeing someone else do them. The best way to do this is to break the actions down into simple steps and use illustrations to make visualisation easy. It's amazing how many social marketing campaigns forget this element.
4. Optimism (or confidence)
The belief that success is probable or inevitable. Strong political or community leadership is probably an important ingredient of optimism.
I can't over-emphasise optimism. EPA research showed about 14% of the population are disabled from environmental action by their sense of isolation and powerlessness. If government and business are not leading by example, who can blame people for sensing their individual efforts may be futile?
5. Facilitation - having outside support
People are busy with limited resources and few choices. They may need accessible services, infrastructure and support networks that overcome practical obstacles to carrying out the action.
If personal behaviour change is blocked by real-world obstacles (and it usually is) then all the communications on earth will be ineffective. The role of an 'education' strategy might therefore need to be expanded to involve the establishment of new services and infrastructure. This is why recycling has been successful - we now have simple, quick, low-cost collection services which make recycling easy.
6. Stimulation - having a kick-start
We are creatures of routine. Even with all the knowledge, desire, good will and services in the world, there is still the inertia of habit to overcome. Consciousness is the tool human beings use to overcome habit, but we are unconscious most of the time. How can social marketers create moments which reach into our lives and compel us into wakefulness?
When I think of the moments which have compelled me to act, they are of two kinds - either threatening (direct and personal, like an airport being proposed in the next suburb; or a threat to my world-view like a terrible famine in Sudan); or inspirational. The inspirational has always happened in a collective context - a kind of inspirational mass conversion which is based on our human social instincts (like the mass meeting where we make a personal commitment or give an extra large donation).
So the stimulation could be an imminent threat (like a cost increase), a special offer or competition (based on self-interest), or, better still, some communally shared event which galvanises action (e.g. a telethon, a public meeting, a festival).
7. Feedback and reinforcement
A host of voices, situations and institutions daily compel us to act in undesirable, unhealthy and anti-social ways. These forces don't disappear just because we've run a campaign. Effective social marketing is about continuous recruitment and reinforcement of messages - with regular communications which report back to people on the success of their efforts and the next steps which are expected of them.
Many NGOs (CAA, Amnesty, Greenpeace etc) have learnt this lesson and devote considerable resources to continuously feeding success stories and updates to their contributors, as well as new calls for support and action. We need to learn the same lesson and devote resources to celebrating people's successes (a Waste-Not Week might be a useful focus).

A 7-step research methodology
To be useful, a 7 step approach needs to feed into a research methodology. We need to figure out where the obstacles are (ie. which gates are closed) with a given audience. Here is an example of the kind of research questions you could ask, assuming that home composting was the goal of the proposed campaign.
Knowledge
STATEMENT: The best way to have great garden is to compost kitchen scraps and lawn clippings.
Strongly agree/Agree/Neither/Disagree/Strongly disagree
Skills
STATEMENT: I know how to make a clean, odour-free home compost.
Strongly agree/Agree/Neither/Disagree/Strongly disagree
Desire
STATEMENT: A home compost is part of a healthy, natural lifestyle.
Strongly agree/Agree/Neither/Disagree/Strongly disagree
Services
STATEMENT: I know where to find compost bins and advice on how to use them.
Strongly agree/Agree/Neither/Disagree/Strongly disagree
Optimism
STATEMENT: I don't bother to compost because it won't make any difference.
Strongly agree/Agree/Neither/Disagree/Strongly disagree
Stimulation
STATEMENT: I don't compost because I'm too busy OR just not interested.
Strongly agree/Agree/Neither/Disagree/Strongly disagree
[There's no need to test for Reinforcement - it's a given!]










































CHAPTER-2
PROJECT PROFILE









Title of the Study
Social Marketing a Study on Social advertisements and Social Campaign in India.

Objectives of the Study
“Social Marketing seeks to influence Social behaviors not to benefit the marketer,but to benefit the target audience and the general Society.”

Significance of the Study
Every Study is conducted to fulfill Certain Objectives in turn fulfill Some purpose and are of Significance for one or more than one party.

Scope of the Study
Most organizations that develop social marketing programs operate through funds provided by sources such as foundations, governmental grants or donations.

Limitations of the Project
Social marketing programs can do well in motivating individual behaviour change, but that is difficult to certain unless the environment they are a supports that change for the long run.




























CHAPTER-3
FINDING









What is Atithi Devo Bhavah?

A pioneer initiative by Ministry of Tourism, Government of India that will help tap into the full potential of tourism in India. Ministry of Tourism, Government of India has introduced “Atithi Devo Bhavah Program”- A nation wide campaign that aims at sensitising key stakeholders towards tourists, through a process of training and orientation. The endeavour is to boost tourism in India, which in turn would act as a catalyst for India’s economic growth. To launch a national level initiative that works at many levels to address all the above issues.
Atithi Devo Bhava aims at creating awareness about the effects of tourism and sensitizing people about preservation of our rich heritage & culture, cleanliness and warm hospitality. It also re-instills a sense of responsibility towards tourists and re-enforces the confidence of foreign tourist towards India as a preferred holiday destination.
The entire concept is designed to complement the ‘Incredible India’ Campaign.

Why Atithi Devo Bhavah?
Last year we had 3.3 million visitors, but when you consider that Singapore gets 7 million a year. Thailand 9.6 million a year. Malaysia 11.5 million.
There is no reason why we can’t aim to increase our numbers by 100%. And that too would be just a beginning. However to do this we need to change our attitude towards those who visit us. Often tourists are Mistreated, Cheated and rudely dealt with.
It’s simple logic, if someone in a house is rude to you, as a guest, you don’t encourage your friends and relations to go there.
This is perhaps the reason why in spite of an incredible wealth of Tourist spots, Cultural Attractions, Natural Wonders and Destinations for the soul, India still isn’t amongst the top 15 tourist destinations Of the world. The time has definitely come to get together to change this.To change our attitude.
We’ve lost touch with the hospitality we were famous for. Now it’s a time that we make an effort to make it a part of us again.
Inspiration behind Atithi Devo Bhavah ?

Respect has always been an integral part of the Indian soul. From time immemorial we have always respected - Our teachers, our elders, our parents And our guestsPerhaps this is why a great Indian Emperor once observed'In Hindustan our manner is very respectful and our hearts are always open'In many ways, at that time India was the ultimate destination for the enlightened travelers. Now, thousands of years later, we can bring that golden age back again.This inspired us to go back to those years, when Indian hospitality set the standard for the world And we found the keystone of what we want to do Or guest is blessed. Our visitor is God.
That how we arrive at our mission called
'Atithi Devo Bhavah'

The seven point Atithi Devo Bhavah Program Atithi Devo Bhavah is a 7 point program of hospitality and training Samvedan Sheelta or Sesitisation-

Here we will sensitise the various sections of the tourism industry about how each of them to contribute for the growth of the tourism industry and how they will benefit from it.Prashikshan or Training and Induction –
This involves explaining to them the needs and expectation of the tourist, how they should respond and behave in order to satisfy them needs and meet those expectations.Prerna or Motivation –
This is motivation to participate in this program through various measures e.g. awards for the best worker in the segment. Because when you are enthused you can do wonders.Pramani Karan or Certification –
Certification to ensure standards shall be done at an appropriate stage in the training programPratipushti or Feedback –
Feedback shall be obtained from tourists about the Service they have received and the experience they had, in order to improve the training program on a continuous basisSamanya Bodh or General Awareness –
The mass media communication campaign will be undertaken to create general awareness among the public about the necessity and the benefits of the Atithi Devo Bhavah programme.Swamitwa or Ownership-
The Atithi Devo Bhavah programme is a movement we will urge all segments of the Indian society to adopt, and look upon as their own.

The Charter of Atithi Devo Bhavah Training Program
Hygiene & Cleanliness :
Hygiene & Cleanliness shall cover the areas of product for e.g. vehicles like taxies, hotel rooms, restaurants, shops, etc., personal hygiene & cleanliness of the person providing the service and cleanliness of the monuments / places of tourist interest.
Conduct and Behavior:
The person concerned for e.g. the taxi driver / hotel employee shall behave in courteous and polite manner towards tourists.
Integrity and Honesty :
The person providing service to the foreign tourists should display honesty and integrity.Safety and Security:
The safety and security of the tourists shall be ensured.

Components of the Atithi Devo Bhavah Program

TrainingIn this we are going to train key stakeholders (of the tourism industry) in terms of changing their attitude and behaviour towards foreign tourists. The programme shall cover 4 areas:Hygiene - This include personal hygiene of the person and also that of the product / service.Conduct and behaviour - Politeness and basic courtesies in interacting with the foreign tourists.Integrity - This implies that the person does not cheat the tourists and charges him a fair price for the service.
Safety and security - Person look after safety and security of the foreign tourists.Key stakeholders being covered in the training include taxi drivers, baggage handlers at airport, tourist guides, hotel staff, employees of tour operators, immigration and customs officials etc.
Since these segments have diverse backgrounds, education and levels of sophistication, the training is divided into 2 categories:
Level 1 : Covers taxi drives, tourist guides and baggage handlers and porters.Level 2 : The tour operators, shop owners / staff, hotel staff, immigration and customs officials.This training program is initiated at the following places - Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Agra, Aurangabad, and Goa. In the next financial year this programme will be rolled out to other important cities in India.
These people will be given certificates which shall be valid for about 6 months after which they have to come and get themselves re-trained. Till 31st March 2005, we plan to train about 26,000 people. From April 2005 to March 2006 these 26,000 people will be retrained and another substantially large number of people will be trained. Once a threshold level in terms of number of people trained is achieved (likely by October 2005), we shall introduce Atithi Devo Bhavah as a symbol of quality. Foreign tourists will be told to look out for the Atithi Devo Bhavah badge / sticker which will mean that the service is of certain minimum quality. PR Road Shows
Besides training we are also undertaking PR Road shows with the tourism trade in order to get their active participation and ownership of the Atithi Devo Bhavah programme. Right now the contact programmes are being conducted in 7 cities mentioned earlier. After April 2005 contact programmes will be conducted in other cities in conjugation with the roll out of the training programme.
Mass Media Communication
We shall also be carrying out mass media communication in newspapers, TV, cinema and outdoors to create general awareness about the Atithi Devo Bhavah programme and to communicate to key stakeholders as to how it is in their own interest that foreign tourists be treated well and should go back happily from our country.

Role of the India Tourism Offices
The India Tourism offices of Delhi, Jaipur, Agra, Mumbai, Aurangabad, Goa and Hydrabad have a crucial role to play in the campaign. They act as nodal agencies to facilitate and coordinate the essential part of the program ie. Training. The nodal offices as we term it will have the following roles:
a) Provide their cooperation and support to make the training programs run in an effective mannerb) Registering the stakeholders who are contacting them for the purpose of training and deciphering the information to us, so thatthey can be contacted and made a part of the training programc) Re-registration of the stakeholders who underwent a training program after six months, the stakeholders will approach them for the purpose of re-training and re-certification

From the Minister
ATITHI DEVO BHAVAH
'Atithi Devo Bhavah' is a Social Awareness Campaign aimed at providing the inbound tourist a sense of being welcomed to the country. The campaign targets the general public as a whole, while focusing mainly on the stakeholders of the tourism industry. The main components of the campaign are training and orientation to taxi drivers, guides, immigration officers, tourist police and other personnel directly interacting with the tourists, while simultaneously creating a brand equity for the trained persons.
"Atithi Devo Bhavah" involves Sensitisation, Screening, Induction, Training & Orientation, Certification and Feedback of key stakeholders of the Tourism industry in India.
As Smt. Renuka Chowdhury, the Minister of State for Tourism (Independent charge) says 'Atithi Devo Bhavah' is a nationwide campaign aimed at sensitising people about India's rich cultural heritage, its preservation, cleanliness, hospitality and bringing out an attitudinal shift among the masses towards tourists. It is a symbolic representation of India's age old hospitality and with this campaign, we are trying to re-install in the stakeholders a sense of pride and responsibility towards tourists, while positioning India as a popular tourist destination worldwide."
The Ministry of Tourism is thus looking at both the macro and micro perspective by promoting destinations on the one hand and bringing about a sea change in the mindset and behaviour of people, on the other.



























India: Working and street adolescents begin campaign on social issues

'Jagruti', a group of working and street children and youth from Bhima Sangha and Namma Sabha in India have started the campaign to raise awareness about social issues among their members and members of their community.
They are using different mediums like drama, songs, role plays, 'kawali', drawings, story telling, dialogues, group discussions, 'Yakshagana' to create awareness in community about alcoholism, child marriage, female foeticide, HIV-AIDS and motivate people to fight against these social issues.
Their performances focus on how these social issues impact on children and women in various ways. They are also developing a tool kit of strategies and materials to address the above issues among their peers as well as members of women's groups in Bhima Sangha and Namma Sabha. The adolescents have prepared an action plan to stage their performances during various cultural programmes that will be organised on the occasion of the Ganesha and other festivals.
Jagruti has been supported in this project by Macarthur Fund for Leadership development.



















Maharashtra to review midday meal scheme
Concerns that over three-fourths of school-going children in Maharashtra who receive a cooked lunch in school daily have not benefited from it have prompted the state’s education minister to order an impact evaluation study of the midday meal scheme

Maharashtra’s school midday meal scheme will be reviewed following reports that 75% of schoolchildren who are covered by the programme have not yet recorded age-proportionate development.
The ‘impact evaluation study’ will also investigate complaints about the quality of food being served and concerns that large numbers of eligible children are not covered by the scheme.
Eight million children from classes 1-5 in 67,000 state-run schools in Maharashtra are supposed to be provided with a free, nutritious lunch on all school days, under a scheme that aims to boost school enrolment figures, decrease the number of school dropouts, ensure attendance at school, and reduce child malnutrition.
The review of the scheme, which will attempt to curb lapses in implementation as well as optimise coverage, will assess its effectiveness on all of the above counts, says State Education Secretary Anand Kulkarni. The study will be formalised by a committee set up under the state’s Gunvatya Vikas Karyakram. “Moreover, I will form a squad which will look into the quality of food that’s provided by the schools,” Kulkarni adds.
In November 2006, a midday meal committee formed to look into the issue sent 700 field officers to monitor and report on the functioning of the scheme in districts schools. Not one of them reported any problems.
“But we realised things weren’t okay when we started visiting the schools personally,” says J M Abhyankar, a Karyakram officer. For instance, the daily allowance never reached schools on time, forcing them to buy pulses from the local grocer. Since prices in the open market varied, the quality of food served suffered.
States like Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan have better records in implementing the midday meal scheme, perhaps due to the active involvement of CSOs. For instance, the Nandi Foundation in Hyderabad prepares meals in a modern kitchen and delivers them to schools in sealed, insulated containers just before the lunch recess.
And Rajasthan, which serves up one of the best menus in the country under its midday meal programme, now provides a 600-calorie meal to its students, as against a minimum prescribed daily intake of 500 calories.
The review will include a district-wise assessment of the food preferences of children after which the committee plans to recommend district-specific diets, for example rice and wheat for some schools, and only rice in others.
The increased focus on the menu of the school meal scheme is in keeping with the trend in other states where the scheme has been in place for some years now. Having put in place the basic infrastructure for the scheme and streamlined its delivery, the effort is now on providing more nutrition, variety and catering to varied tastes.
The review committee is expected to submit its report by the end of March.

India's diversity not visible in public spaces
Experts from an interview with Abusaleh Shariff, in which the chief economist at the National Council of Applied Economic Research and Sachar Committee member expands on the much-debated findings of the committee’s report, "Social, Economic and Educational Status of the Muslim Community"

Civil society-political party duet at ISF
Politicians and NGOs shed a taboo at the recent India Social Forum, entering into an uneasy synergy. NGOs would like a political party to push their agenda without being identified with it. And politicians would like to use NGOs to enter areas they have failed to, but they also believe that advocacy sans political ideology won’t work

Gujarat’s campaign for ‘unanimous’ panchayat polls opposed
A government circular pushing for wider acceptance of the samras scheme, under which a village sarpanch (head) is ‘elected’ by consensus, has been criticised by rights activists as being undemocratic and corrupt
An attempt by the Gujarat government to offer financial incentives to villages that select their sarpanch (panchayat head) by consensus and not through the usual voting procedure has raised a storm of protest from civil society activists who say offering voters incentives, disincentives and issuing veiled threats to promote the practice violates the democratic process and hijacks the panchayati raj endeavour. More sinister, perhaps, is the accusation by some that the move is a ploy by the predominantly pro-Hindu government to get its right wing supporters into panchayat office.
With elections to 18,000 village panchayats due on December 10, the government whip has stressed the need for more samras (unanimity) villages. It has also hiked the samras incentive from Rs 60,000 to Rs 1 lakh as bait to lure villages into adopting the scheme. Villages that adopt a samras candidate for the second time will get an additional amount of Rs 50,000.
There are some reports that a nexus of district and block-level officials, in connivance with influential local residents, is forcing villagers to settle for consensus in electing a sarpanch. A Panchmahals district panchayat circular says villages that do not opt for samras will remain backward, while those opting for the scheme will be looked after. “This is a violation of democratic norms. The incentives, disincentives and veiled threats are robbing the villagers of their voting rights,” says Laljibhai Desai of the Buniyaadi Adhikaar Andolan, Gujarat (BAAG).
The government says the samras campaign, which offers incentives to villages that arrive at their choice of headman through popular mandate -- doing away with the need for formal elections and thus saving on poll expenditure -- ensures that villages have more money to spend on development. They say it also helps maintain peace in the village around election time by eliminating the possibility of poll-related violence and clashes between supporters of rival candidates. No survey has been conducted to compare the development indices of villages that have opted for this scheme and those that haven’t.
Over 3,900 villages ‘voluntarily’ opted for the scheme when it was first introduced during the last panchayat elections in December 2001.
However, a network of women's non-government organisations is planning an agitation against samras system on the ground that women and Dalits are being denied their democratic rights. "Men of upper caste groups wielding political and social clout usually decide on the 'consensus' candidate," says Sitaben Rabari of Veir village in Kutch.
"The poor and illiterate villagers are often forced to accept the recommendations of the mamlatdars (taluk revenue officers) and withdraw from contest," alleged Kantaben of the Mouchha village in Prantij taluka of Sabarkantha district.When someone from her community wanted to contest, he was asked "to pay Rs 1 lakh (the samras grant promised by the government)."
Persis Ginwala, one of the convenors of the Panchayat Elections Vigilance Committee formed by over 70 CSOs, alleged that even after the model code of conduct for elections came into force on November 15, village and taluka revenue officers were visiting villages to discourage people from contesting and openly suggesting the names of candidates with Hindu fundamentalist leanings as the unanimous choice.
In a number of cases, the reluctant villagers had been threatened with penal actions, besides being denied the special government grants if they chose to hold regular elections, Ginwalla, who is also vice-president of the Mahila Swarajya Abhiyan, alleged. She pointed out that government officers were going round the villages threatening people with penal action if they refused to fall in line.
Several women representatives of the Abhiyan coming from various villages alleged that on the first day of filling nominations on November 22, government officials functioning as the returning officers had refused to accept the nomination forms.
Representatives of the Panchayat Elections Vigilance Committee have called on the State Election Commission responsible for conducting free and fair elections to the village panchayats. But it expressed its inability to interfere in the matter as the samras scheme was a state government scheme over which the Election Commission had no jurisdiction. Now, the committee says it is exploring various ways, including seeking legal remedy, to prevent the government from "denying the basic democratic rights to the people."

Devolution of funds biggest challenge to panchayats
In most Indian states, says a review of panchayats in the country, general-purpose unconditional transfer of funds to panchayats is not significant. Kerala leads the way, with nearly 40% devolution of its plan outlay to panchayats for planning and implementation

The two biggest challenges before India’s panchayati raj (local self-government) system are ensuring the impartiality and credibility of panchayat elections and increasing funds to meet their functional mandate, says ‘The State of Panchayats -- A mid-term review and appraisal’, that was released by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on November 20. It will soon be tabled in parliament.
According to the 1,600-page review, brought out by the Union Panchayati Raj Ministry, incomplete devolution of funds is perhaps the greatest challenge to the effective functioning of panchayats in the country. One of the most important lessons learnt from past experience is that, instead of gradually building up capacity and laboriously undertaking academic exercises in training panchayat members, it is better to entrust serious and substantial powers to panchayats immediately and rely on hands-on experience in administrative work to train panchayat members in their duties.
The ministry is in the process of evolving a gram swaraj scheme to reinforce such an approach to devolution by making available funds for building capacity and undertaking formal training exercises, the report says.
In most Indian states, the review points out, general-purpose unconditional transfer of funds to panchayats is not very significant. Where they do exist, they are not given on the basis of a well-designed formula, taking into account the panchayat’s expenditure requirements. The review says Kerala has shown the way, with nearly 40% devolution of its plan outlay to panchayats for planning and implementation. In Karnataka, financial devolution is of the order of Rs 7,500 crore per year. Two other states that are likely to emerge at the top in 2006-07 are Sikkim and Punjab.
For financial accountability, public account committees specifically for panchayats, complemented by a Fiscal Responsibility Act, are necessary, the report says.
A major challenge to be tackled head-on is the issue of “parallel bodies,” which, according to Panchayati Raj Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar would help policymakers further the cause of panchayati raj institutions (PRIs) and devolution of power to the people. They must be brought through legal provisions into an organic, symbiotic relationship with PRIs and report to the gram sabhas.
Pointing out that public participation in panchayat elections was substantial, very often higher than in parliamentary or assembly elections, the report says that these elections are supervised by state election commissions, and that there are deviations in procedure and practice at the state level.
The review suggests that all responsibilities in the election process, including drawing up the electoral rolls, de-limitation of constituencies, reservation and rotation of candidates, and conduct of elections, be put squarely on the state election commission. Common electoral rolls and the use of electronic voting machines would significantly promote the conduct of free and fair elections to panchayats, it adds.
Recommending a review of funding through centrally sponsored schemes, along with additional central assistance for state plans, the review seeks a simplification of the funding mechanism to panchayats.
Describing participation in gram sabhas as a challenge, the report says that giving them a prominent legal position is of no consequence if they remain neglected. “There is scepticism about the Utopian concept of people getting together to solve their problems. The feeling prevails, that in the face of elite groups, marginalised segments and local politics this does not work on the ground. What can be done is to evolve modalities where those who want to participate are facilitated.”
The report says that the acid test for successful fiscal reform for panchayats lies in the extent to which they raise revenue. The willingness of people to pay taxes is a barometer of the panchayat’s capacity to deliver and the quantum of trust it enjoys among the people. Local taxation is the best check that people can exercise over their elected representatives.
The report also calls for the need to recognise the constitutional sanctity given to the state finance commission. With greater fiscal devolution, fund availability at the panchayat level could go up considerably.





















CHAPTER-4
EVALUATION
















Child survival and safe motherhood program in RajasthanJain SK1, Chawla Uma1, Gupta Neeru2, Gupta RS1, Venkatesh S1, Lal Shiv11 National Institute of Communicable Diseases,Indian Council of Medical Research, India2 Division of Reproductive Health and Nutrition,Indian Council of Medical Research, India
Correspondence Address:Gupta Neeru F-8/17, Krishna Nagar, Delhi-110051 India
Abstract

Objective : This study was planned to evaluate the MCH services, particularly immunization in rural areas of the poor-performing state of Rajasthan. Methods : A community-based, cross-sectional survey using the WHO 30 cluster technique was carried out as a field exercise by participants of 9th Field Epidemiology Training Programme (FETP) course by National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) in rural areas of Alwar district of Rajasthan. Results : Less than one third (28.9%) of children, aged 12-23 months, were fully immunized with BCG, 3 DPT, 3 OPV and Measles vaccines; around a quarter (26.5%) had not received even a single vaccine (non immunized), and little less than half (44.5%) were found partially immunized. Around half of the eligible children were vaccinated for BCG (55.9%) and Measles (43.6%). Though nearly two-third (66.8%) were covered with first dose of DPT and OPV, but about one third of these children dropped out of third dose of DPT and OPV for various reasons. National Family Health Survey (NFHS) data also had revealed that BCG coverage was 64.3%; measles was 36.2%; and coverage by DPT 1, 2, 3 and Polio 1,2 and 3 were 64.4%, 57.0%, 46.6% and 77.5%, 71.1% and 54.4% respectively in rural areas. The main reasons for drop-out or non-immunization was "lack of information about the immunization programme" (41.3%). Though nearly all (more than 96%) of the children were immunized through Government established centers, but immunization cards/documents were made available only to 27.6% of children. Conclusion : The problem of low coverage and high drop-out rate of immunization could be overcome by creating awareness of the program and relevance of 2nd and 3rd doses of DPT and polio vaccines. Increasing community participation through intensive and extensive health education campaign should also be undertaken. Since most of the deliveries were done at home under the supervision of untrained midwives, training programme as well as involving them in IEC activities should be contemplated.

Communicable diseases kill more than 14 million people every year, mainly in the developing world.[1] Despite the availability of safe and effective vaccines against these diseases in the last 3 to 4 decades, diseases like measles and tetanus continue to be a major cause of mortality and morbidity, especially among young children in most of the developing countries like India. Universal Measles immunization coverage is one of the activities targeted in order to reduce child mortality by two-thirds by all the 191 United Nations Member States as one of the eight UN Millennium Development Goals (MDG).[2] As of now, Measles, Pertussis and Tetanus are the leading causes of DALYs (Disability adjusted life years) among Childhood diseases,[3] and hence constitute the main global burden of diseases among childhood illnesses.As per WHO estimates, in 1998, approximately 30 million cases and 8,88,000 deaths occurred worldwide due to measles, of which 85% occurred in South East Asia and Africa regions.[4] Diphtheria also has the potential to cause outbreaks especially in those countries with very low reported levels of vaccination coverage.[5]Following the success in eradication of small pox through vaccination, India initiated immunization programme in 1978 under the banner of Expanded Programme of Immunization (EPI), with the objective to reduce morbidity and mortality due to five child killer diseases which are vaccine preventable diseases (VPDs). Those are: Diphtheria, Pertussis, Tetanus, Polio and Tuberculosis. Additional inputs were provided under Universal Immunization Programme (UIP) by strengthening the cold chain facilities and streamlining logistics for vaccine, other essential supplies and measles vaccination. The aim of UIP is ( i ) to give the full course of DPT, OPV, BCG and Measles vaccines before the first birthday to all children and ( ii ) to give 2 doses of tetanus toxoid to all pregnant women throughout the country. These services were organized as a part of primary health care through the existing health infrastructure. During 1992, this programme was integrated with National Child Survival and Safe Motherhood (CSSM) programme. Following the International Conference for Population and Development (ICPD) held at Cairo, a paradigm shift was brought about and "Reproductive and Child Health Programme" was launched in October, 1997. Immunization continues to be an important component of the RCH programme. In the past decade and half, all the districts in the country have been covered under the Universal Immunization Programme. However, providing immunization, by itself, does not guarantee a reduction in disease morbidity and mortality. The full course of vaccines must be given at the right age and the vaccines must be potent. Vaccination activity should not be an end in itself but lead to development of immunity against diseases.The accurate measurement of vaccination coverage and maternal care, antenatally and during delivery, are essential steps in determining the successful implementation of the maternal and child health programme. This can be performed with the help of a coverage evaluation survey, in field. Keeping this in view, a community-based, cross-sectional survey, using the WHO 30 cluster technique[6], was carried out as a field exercise by participants of 9th FETP course. The study was aimed to estimate the immunization coverage of DPT, OPV, BCG and Measles amongst children of 12 - 23 months and to know the reasons of immunization failure. It also aimed to estimate the immunization coverage of Tetanus toxoid and the status of antenatal care and delivery practices of mothers of infants, and then to cross check the results with routine reporting system.
Materials and MethodsA Survey was conducted in Rural area of Alwar District, Rajasthan, among children, 12-23 months of age, and mothers of children (0-11 months of age) from 25 - 30 September, 2004. Sampling Technique used was Standard WHO-30 cluster sampling; Population Proportionate to Size (PPS)[6] and Sample Size were 210 mothers and 210 children.Total rural population of Alwar district is 25,57,653. The sampling interval determined was 85,255. The first random number selected was 73. 210 mothers, and 210 children were selected from these 30 clusters (7 per cluster for each i.e., 7 mother of children in age group 0 -11 months and children of 12 - 23 months of age). A standard WHO pre-designed schedule available for evaluation of immunization coverage was reviewed and adapted. The schedule was pre-tested in the classroom by role-play method. 14 Participants of 9th Regional FETP assisted by staff of Field Practice Unit (FPU), NICD branch, Alwar, constituted the survey team and it was supervised by the faculty of Epidemiology Division NICD Delhi and Field Practicing Unit, NICD, Alwar.Briefing for the survey team was done from 20th to 24th of September 2004. The briefing session consisted of schedule's review and Role-Play in the classroom. Question by question instructions and guidelines were given to the surveyors.Data Collection in the Field Survey was carried out in 30 clusters of rural area of Alwar district by four teams (each team comprised of 3 or 4 trainees of the 9th Regional Field Epidemiology Training course and one paramedical staff from Field Practice Unit, NICD Alwar). Information as per pre-tested schedule was collected by interviewing either mother or caretaker of children below two years.House-to-house visits were made in each of these clusters until seven mothers of children under one year of age and seven children in 12 -23 months age groups were found. The selection of the first house was done randomly and subsequent houses were selected by going to the next nearest house. Immunization status of children (12-23 months), source of immunization and reasons for failure to initiate or complete immunization schedule were ascertained. Wherever possible, the dates of immunization were determined by immunization cards or registers. For those who had no such documents, the months and year of immunization were recorded only if convincing "verbal history" was given. Whether immunization was done at the right age was determined from dates of immunization and birth dates. First DPT before one and a half months and Measles immunization less than 9 months were considered invalid immunizations. Question on immunization status (Tetanus-toxoid), antenatal care received, place of delivery and person who conducted the delivery were asked from seven mothers of infants (0 -11 months) in each cluster.For immunization status, definitions from Service evaluation coverage, CSSM 1992[6], were followed. The right age for vaccination was considered as: for Measles, soon after 9 months (9 months completed); BCG-any time after birth; Polio/DPT-first dose, any time after 6 weeks of birth. Subsequent doses spaced at least one month or 28 days apart.A fully-immunized child is the child who was vaccinated for BCG, 3 doses of OPV, 3 doses of DPT and 1 dose of measles in the eligible population (12-23 months of age). First DPT before one and a half months and Measles immunization less than 9 months were considered invalid immunizations, and such vaccina­tions were excluded from the computation of fully immunized children even if all doses for six VPDs were given. Partially immunized child was the one who had not received complete immunization schedule or received one or more than one of these immunizations at wrong age. A person vaccinated at the wrong age was considered not vaccinated. A second or third DPT or Polio vaccination which was given less than one month after the preceding vaccination was considered invalid. It was checked that the vaccinations were completed before 12 months of age. Measles vaccine given before 9 months age (270 days) was considered not valid. Non-immunized were those who did not receive even a single dose of any vaccine or have been administered at a wrong age. In case of a partially immunized or a non immunized child, the responsible person in household was asked to give the most important reason why the immunizations were incomplete. The information collected was transferred to 'Master Sheets' and analysis was done manually.
ResultsThe rural of Alwar district has been covered in the present survey covering a population of about 25.58 lakhs (information of present survey is given in Methods). Of of 211 eligible children, 134 (63.5%) were males and 77 (36.5%) were females. Less than one-third (61/211, 28.9%) of children aged 12-23 months were fully immunized with BCG, 3 DPT, 3 OPV and Measles vaccines; around a quarter (56/211, 26.5%) had not received even a single vaccine (non immunized) and tittle less than half (94/211, 44.5%) were found partially immunized [Table - 1]. Around half of the eligible children were vaccinated for BCG (55.95) and Measles (43.6%). Though nearly two-third (66.8%) were covered with first dose of DPT and OPV, but about one-third of children dropped out of the third dose of DPT and OPV for various reasons [Table - 1]. The main reasons for drop-out or non-immunization was "lack of information about the immunization programme" (41.3%). Other obstacles like absence of vaccinator (15.2%) and a busy schedule of the mother at home (10.8%) were other major responses to vaccine non-compliance [Table - 2].Three-fourth (74%) of mothers of the infants (0-11 months) were found fully-immunized with tetanus toxoid. Nearly all (96-100%) of them had received it from Government established centers. Less than one-fourth (23.8%) of mothers had contacted health personnel/health center for at least three times for receiving antenatal care, and 37.6% received over 100 tablets of Iron and Folic acid (IFA) during their entire period of gestation [Table - 3]. Around three-fifth (127) deliveries took place at "Home". 'Untrained midwives conducted 60% of total deliveries at homes.
Discussion
This study shows that the vaccination coverage has remained more or less the same as compared to the previous studies carried out in the same state/district[7],[8] [Table - 4]. A recent evaluation of routine immunization coverage in some districts of West Bengal and Assam carried out during the period from November 2003 and April 2003 showed variable picture. Immunization coverage was good in Pashim Medinipur (82.5%), followed by Kolkata (71.6%), Malda (65.3%), and 24 Praganas South (61.9%) districts of West Bengal. Murshidabad district of West Bengal had only 41.3% coverage, while poorest coverage was observed in Goalpara district (27.2%) of Assam.[9] According to NFHS-2, the proportion of children fully-vaccinated in 12 months of age was 35%; 52% being urban and 29.3% being rural children. In Rajasthan, the vaccination coverage was found to be 17%, which is much less compared to National average[10].One-third (45/134; 33.6%) of males and one-fifth (16/77; 20.8%) of females were found to be fully-immunized. Complete immunization (fully immunization status) was better among male children (33.6%) than that of females (20.8%). However, statistically this difference was not found significant for overall immunization status (fully, partial or non-immunization status) (x[2]=4.89; p>0.05). Hence, only seemingly, immunization status of males was better than that of females.Vaccination coverage was found to be much lower than the goal of universal immunization [Table - 1]. NFHS data also revealed that BCG coverage was 64.3% and measles 36.2%; coverages by DPT 1, 2, 3 and Polio 1,2 and 3 were 64.4%, 57.0%, 46.6% and 77.5%, 71.1% and 54.4% respectively in rural areas[10]. The reasons for non-immunization or drop-out [Table - 2] were similar as have been noted in prior studies[7],[8],[9]. Though nearly all (more than 96%) of children were immunized through Government established centers, but immunization cards/documents were available only to 27.6% of children [Table - 1]. According to NFHS-2 also, the public sector is the primary provider of childhood vaccinations in India. NFHS-2 also reports that immunization cards were shown by 40% urban and 30% rural children in India and only 15% children in Rajasthan[10].Nearly three quarters of mothers were fully immunized for tetanus but only quarter of them received three antenatal check-up, and 60% deliveries were conducted by untrained dais. This is a matter of concern and calls for intensive training of the midwives in these areas for effective management of labor and infant vaccination later on.Comparison of Evaluated Coverage with Recorded Coverage BCG was reported to be 103.43%; for 3 doses of DPT the recorded coverage was 106.69%; for 3 polio doses, it was 106.69%; for measles, 103.43%l and complete immunization (BCG+3 doses of DPT+3 doses of Polio +Measles) was 103.43 % as per records (2002) in Alwar district. But the evaluated coverage in the present field coverage evaluation survey (25th -30th September, 2004) was 55.9% for BCG, 38.4% for 3 doses of DPT, 38.9% for 3 polio doses, 43.6% for measles and 28.9% for full immunization [Table - 1]. So, the observed difference between recorded and evaluated coverage as per present survey was 74.53%. Acknowledgement This study was funded by World Health Organization and was a part of training of WHO Fellowship called "Field Epidemiology Training Programme". This course was being conducted by NICD.) ( Survey Team: D.S.L. Karma, Nepal; Narain Thapa, Nepal; Tarun Paudel, Nepal; Kunal Chatterjee, Armed Forces, India; Somenath Karmakar, India; Sona Pradhan, Bhutan; Subhasis Debbarma, Tripura; Kamal Riyang, Tripura; K.P. Debnath, Tripura; K.T. Lepcha, Sikkim; Maya Sarkar, West Bengal; Tun min, Myanmar; H.G.S. Navratne, Srilanka)




NEW TACK MAY STAMP OUT POLIO FOR GOOD
Northern India remains one of the last strongholds of polio, despite ongoing vaccination campaigns designed to stamp it out for good. Now researchers think they understand what has gone wrong – and how to fix it.
Polio has exploded in India in recent weeks, leading to renewed criticism of the World Health Organization’s much-postponed goal of eradicating polio. There have been 522 cases in India this year – compared with 47 by the same time last year – and most of them have occurred in the north Indian states of Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Bihar.
Polio is entrenched in the poor, crowded slums of Ghaziabad and other districts in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, one of the areas where vaccination efforts are focused (Image: Science)
Statistical analysis shows that is probably because these areas are more crowded with less sanitation than elsewhere in India, says Nicholas Grassly at Imperial College in London, UK. That suits polio, a gut virus that spreads in faeces, but this is not enough to explain such a massive hike in polio cases.
Alarmingly, children in these states are each getting on average 15 doses of oral polio vaccine, compared with 10 for the rest of India, and three in the richer nations of the west. Yet even these heavily-vaccinated children are being paralysed by polio.
Reduced chances
To investigate, Grassly and colleagues studied data from 96,000 children treated for polio-like paralysis since 1997 across India. They discovered that oral poliovirus vaccine is significantly less effective in UP and Bihar. In UP, each vaccination cut a child’s chances of getting polio by a mere 9%, compared with 21% elsewhere in India, and 65% in the developed world.
Oral polio vaccine contains three strains of live, weakened virus, which elicit an immune response in the gut. Studies have shown that diarrhoea and other competing gut viruses – which are particularly common in UP and Bihar – can prevent the "trivalent" vaccine viruses from producing a strong immune response.
But it now seems that the three strains of polio in the vaccine also compete with each other. Last year children in Bihar started getting a “monovalent” vaccine containing only the Type 1 strain of polio – the main one circulating there. Preliminary observations suggest it is three times more effective than ordinary vaccine. Cases have now started to decline in Bihar.
New schedules
The new vaccine will now be used regularly in UP, alongside routine vaccination with the trivalent vaccine. Another single vaccine, for Type 3 polio, will be given in the few pockets where that strain persists.
Type 1 polio should remain the priority because it is more infectious and more likely to cause paralysis than the Type 3 strain, says Bruce Aylward, coordinator for the WHO’s Global Polio Eradication Initiative. The last case of Type 2 polio anywhere in the world was seen in 1999.
“We are planning a big push to get Type 1 polio knocked out in India during the first half of 2007,” says Aylward. “We can go back and hit Type 3 later – and within 24 months we hope to eradicate it completely.”
He says this is an ideal time to hit Northern India because the major transmission season has just ended and they currently have enough monovalent vaccine to cover the key areas.
The eradication programme has already cut polio cases from 350,000 in 1988 to about 2000 in 2005. Countries which had eliminated the disease, but were re-infected by outbreaks spreading from Nigeria in 2003, have now been mostly mopped up. The toughest areas, say WHO officials, are the countries polio has never left: Nigeria, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.
Sterility and cancer
This week Saudi Arabia announced that all people arriving in the country from India would be given a booster dose of trivalent oral vaccine, in order to reduce the chances of new outbreaks, particularly during the Haj pilgrimage period, which begins at the end of November. This follows the introduction of similar restrictions at the start of November on arrivals from Nigeria.
It is hoped such measures will encourage uptake of vaccine among Muslims in north-Indian states, who will also be encouraged to get vaccinated before they arrive.
Vaccination teams have recently fought opposition from Muslims in UP, who are being targeted by pamphlets alleging that polio vaccine causes sterility – or, in a new twist, cancer. Similar rumours caused the 2003 outbreaks in Nigeria, and seem to be partially responsible for the upsurge in India this year – in UP, Muslims make up 17% of the population, but 70% of polio cases.
“Pamphleteering isn’t the only cause, but it certainly doesn’t help,” says Grassly. “Most of the new cases are occurring in Muslim areas, but these also tend to be the poorest communities and therefore the children are the most susceptible to infection.”

Polio taking its toll
Polio has become a health headache in the country in the last decades and despite prolonged government efforts has not been exterminated, causing in many cases life-long disability and death.
Alarmed by the polio situation in the country, United Nations has recently written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and World Health Organisation has shot off a letter to Health Minister Dr Anbumani Ramadoss, expressing concern over the persistence of poliovirus in Uttar Pradesh and the risk it poses to other countries. Both the agencies have taken note of the current outbreak in UP which has this year reported 255 cases, according to official sources. India as a whole has already reported 283 cases this year, the maximum since 2002 when the number of polio cases had risen to a high of 1,600 due to an outbreak in UP and Bihar.
The two agencies have said the poliovirus from UP poses a danger not only to neighbouring states but also to other countries like Bangladesh, Nepal, Angola and Namibia, which had largely succeeded in controlling the disease. Bangladesh, which was polio free for five years, has reported 13 cases, all attributed to exportation from UP, Bihar, till September 06 has reported 17 cases, Haryana 5, while one case each has been reported from Uttaranchal, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, West Bengal and Chandigarh. Though the National Capital has not reported any polio case this year so far, detection of cases in neighbouring Ghaziabad is being seen as a risk.
Authorities in Delhi attribute the failure in UP to a lack of political and administrative will in the state. About Rs 20 crores is allocated to the state for every round of polio vaccination. The state government has attributed its failure to control polio to lack of quality vaccine. Union government officials maintain that it was the same vaccine which had controlled polio in other parts of the country. Muzzaffarpur, Saharanpur, Moradabad, Badayun, Rampur and Bijnaur are some of the badly affected areas of UP Government officials have said. Though the state had been warned last year that children were not getting covered during immunization rounds, action was delayed against the erring officials which led to damage to polio eradication efforts.
Almost two weeks after the UN pulled up India for the spread of polio virus Health Minister Ramadoss admitted that nearly 7 to 15% of children in Western UP- the epicentre of this year's outbreak had been left out of the polio vaccination drive. Ramadoss, who held an emergency meeting with states on September 20 that have reported a spurt in polio cases, announced there would be three rounds of polio vaccination across the country, starting this November. The reason: children were left out in the 2005 vaccination exercise and the virus began manifesting itself from May last year. There have even been 23 deaths.
Following the outbreak WHO has redefined the high risk zones. It includes Maharashtra, Haryana, Uttaranchal and Chandigarh. The first phase of the immunization drive will concentrate on these new high risk zones where 37 million children under the age of five would be vaccinated.
The high risk zones have been identified not because there are a high number of cases now but also because of high migrant population, Jay Wenger head of National Polio Surveillance Programme has said, explaining the causes. For example, the virus has been found in sewage water samples collected from slums in Dharavi, Wadala and Shivaji Nagar in Mumbai. It has the same genetic sequence as the UP strain.
Another problem that the government has to deal with is that UP is large Muslim minority are reluctant to get their children immunized because of rumours that polio drops are a part of a Western conspiracy to make their children sterile. Nearly 70% of the cases are from minority communities. Doctors in urban areas have pointed out health officials ignored evidence in the 1980s that three doses of the oral polio vaccine (OPV) would not prevent polio paralysis in a large number of children. The three dose schedule lasted until the mid 1990s when the government launched pulse polio campaigns to give all children under 5 years extra doses of OPV on designated dates during the year. Five doses would also have revealed multi-dose failure with OPV and stimulated rethinking about eradication strategies, a former expert Dr Jacob John has said.
Dr John believed policy makers displayed an unscientific bias towards OPV over the inactivated injectible polio vaccine that had been shown through studies as superior in many ways.
An agency report circulated in mid September has said falling immunization rates has emerged as a worrying factor in many states as only 47 per cent of the children in the age group of 12 to 35 months in 43 districts surveyed received full immunization coverage. While districts such as Tumkur in Karnataka topped the list with 93.4% coverage, the districts of Gaya in Bihar and Lalitpur in UP dragged down the achievement with a dire 5% coverage followed by Dholpur (Rajasthan) and Sitapur (UP) with 6.7% and 6.8% respectively. Within Karnataka itself, Raichur could immunize only 23% of its children indicating disparities within districts too. These findings are borne out of a Government of India-UNICEF survey covering 2,580 villages on sample basis from 43 districts of 14 states, which are focal districts of the Government of India-UNICEF country programme of Cooperation Cycle of 2003-2007.
According to Dr NC Saxena, member National Advisory Council, it points to falling immunization rates in many states as corroborated by a midterm review undertaken by Planning Commission, despite an impressive overall growth rate charted by the economy. Rather than improving on health allocation, state governments are reducing allocation for the health sector, Dr Saxena is reported to have pointed out. While there has been considerable improvement in the areas of water availability and education, on the fronts of sanitation and child protection much more needs to be done.
At this point of time, it is necessary to be pro-active and positive about immunization of children of both sexes for a brighter tomorrow for the coming generations, and not to take a complacent stand in the matter. Health, education or awareness must go hand in hand - the responsibility lies with the government state or Central to involve NGOs, field personnel and even the clergy for positive results.


INDIA SECOND ONLY TO NIGERIA IN POLIO CASES

With fresh cases of polio reported in 16 states last year,India saw an un-precedented increase of 909% in the number of polio cases.A government report on Intensified Pulse Polio Immunisation Programme reveals that with 666 cases last year, India earned the second spot internationally in the highest incidence of polio- just after Nigeria.

Of the 17 countries that are still reporting fresh cases of polio,Nigeria had the highest number at 1,090.While India was second, the rest of the Indian sub-continent fared better.There was no increase in Nepal and Pakistan showed only a slight rise from 28 cases in 2005 and 39 in 2006.Afghanistan,however showed an increase from 9 to 31 cases. Even Somalia fared better than India.

According to the report that has complied statistics from 27 states and union territories in India, eight states that had not reported a single case in 2005 saw fresh cases in 2006.These include Assam,Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Maharashtra,Rajasthan and West Bengal.UP replaced Bihar as the state reporting maximum number of polio cases.

The biggest problem in the immunisation programme being undertaken is that of absenteeism. According to the report,the government officials involved in the programme either report late for the programmes at Pulse Polio centres do not report at all. In Delhi,the absenteeism has increased steadily over successive drives.

The report has identified problem areas in the immunisation programme.It has found that door-to-door surveys,the backbone of the programme,are not conducted properly.Sometimes, the upper floors of a colony are not covered at all and marking outside the doors is not proper.Banners are also not displayed properly.The government staff has reported problems in covering cooperative societies as they are not allowed inside the premises.

Seeing the increase in number of cases in Delhi from one to six over one year,the government has decided to further intensify the programme.Polio drops will now be administered at 50 Metro stations also.






CHAPTER 5
REPORTING





























SUMMARY

Some people think social marketing is a dating service; others, a mass media campaign of public service announcements; others, any programme that establishes a product-distribution network. But it is more. Social marketing defies quick definition because its programmes are not easily stereotyped.

Social marketing is the application of marketing principles to the design and management of social programmes. It is a systematic approach to solving problems, in this case public health nutrition problems related to the adoption of health-promoting behaviours such as the enhanced use of services, the trial and continued use of a product, and the improvement of household or community practices. Because it is an approach and not a solution, there is no template for others to copy.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, my central message is that an education strategy that actually works, as opposed to one that looks good on paper, is likely to involve a lot more than just communication techniques.
If the social marketing mission is to be successful, then as marketers we may need to step outside the conventional boundaries of 'awareness communication'. we may have to help people visualise new futures. We may need to work with engineers to build services and infrastructure. We may need to work with politicians and managers to provide leadership. You may need to create a sense of event. And we will have to think in the long term and ensure that resources are available to repeat and reinforce our messages.
There were low levels of immunization coverage for both mother and children (age 12-23 months). Only one third of eligible children and three-fourth of mothers were completely immunized for their immunization schedule. Lack of awareness of the immunization programme was the main reason behind this. Regular and focused IEC activities regarding need for immunization is required so as to elevate community belief on the need for vaccination. The problem of high drop-out rate of immunization could also be overcome by creating awareness of the programme and relevance of 2nd and 3rd doses of DPT and polio vaccines. Increasing community participation through intensive and extensive health education campaign may also be required. Since most of the deliveries were done at home and conducted by untrained midwives, a training programme as well as involving them in IEC activities should be contemplated.
BIBLIOGRAPHY

www.social-marketing.com
www.social-marketing.org
www.psi.org

A STUDY ON INSURANCE SECTOR IN INDIA

1.2 Aims &Objectives: -
The study conducted by the researcher aimed to find out:
¨ To create an awareness about the Indian Insurance Industry.
¨ To find actual effectiveness of the industry in the comparison of world.
¨ To create awareness about the performance of Indian Insurance Companies.
¨ The strength and weakness of Life Insurance Product.

1.3 Significance of the study: -
Following is the significance felt by the researcher while doing this project.

To The Researcher: -

§ This study has provided the researcher a practical insight of various activities and functions of the Industry.
§ Through the study the researcher also developed in depth knowledge of the industry. The study enabled the researcher to gain the practical knowledge of the products of the different companies.
§ The study has given a chance to use the conceptual knowledge in actual environment and prepared the researcher to use the knowledge for her future endeavors.
§ The study is also significant to the researcher for practical fulfillment of the Master of Business Administration Degree.
1.4 Miscellaneous
§ The research can be used as a source of information for similar projects. The research can also be used for academic purpose in future.


1.5 Limitations of the study: -

¨ Some matters are not disclosed in the particular context.
¨ In secondary data, there is not complete information about the particular matter.
¨ The conclusion arrived at are based on vary less experience of researcher in this field.


















RESEARCH METHODOLGY

Research Brief:
Keeping the objective of the study in the mind it was decided to collect some information form all insurance companies. This study aimed to get the information about the Indian insurance market. It was decided to find out the comparative position of Indian insurance industry with world.

Research Type:
This research is descriptive type research.

Universe:
Indian Insurance Companies.

Data Type:

This research is based on secondary data. Secondary data was collected from brochures; others related magazines and books, sites of IRDA and companies and IRDA’s Annual report 2004-05.
















































1.1 INTRODUCTION TO THE SUBJECT: -

Introduction

Indian is the largest democracy in the world having a population more then one billion. It is 5th largest in world in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP). India GDP growth rate is over 7 percent per year on average for the last decade and saving rate is around 26 % of GDP.

Through Indian’s economic development, it becomes the most lucrative insurance markets in the world. Before the year 1999 there were monopoly of state run Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) in life insurance sector and General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC) with its four subsidiaries in general sector. In the wake of reform process and passing Insurance Regulatory Development Act (IRDA) through Indian Parliament in 1999, Indian Insurance was opened for private companies.

What is Insurance?

Insurance is a contract between two parties whereby one party called insurer undertakes in exchange for a fixed a sum called premiums, to pay the other party happening of a certain event.
Insurance is a protection against financial loss arising on the happening of an unexpected event. Insurance Companies collects premium to provide for this protection a loss is paid out of this premium collected from the insuring public. The insurance company acts as a trustee to the amount collected through premium.

The contract is valid for payment of the insured amount during:
The date of maturity, or
Specified dates at periodic intervals, or
Unfortunate death, if it occurs earlier.
Among other things, the contract also provides for the payment of premium periodically to the Corporation by the policyholder. Life insurance is universally acknowledged to be an institution, which eliminates 'risk', substituting certainty for uncertainty and comes to the timely aid of the family in the unfortunate event of death of the breadwinner. By and large, life insurance is civilization’s partial solution to the problems caused by death. Life insurance, in short, is concerned with two hazards that stand across the life-path of every person:
That of dying prematurely leaves a dependent family to fend for itself.
That of living till old age without visible means of support.


Insurance is generally classified in three main categories,
(i) Life Insurance,
(ii) Health Insurance and
(iii) General Insurance.

To get insurance an individual or an organization can approach to an insurance company directly, through Insurance Agent of the concerned company or through Intermediaries.
Why we need Insurance?
In life, losses are sometimes unavoidable. People may fall seriously sick or lose income or savings to pay off medical bills. Individuals or their relatives may come across untimely death, whatsoever the reason may be. Some nuisance creator may damage due to some heavenly act or the assets of people. No one knows in advance when a loss will occur or how serious that loss will be. The uncertainty surrounding potential losses is known as Risk. Insurance offers a way for people to replace risk with known costs-the costs of buying & maintaining insurance policies.
Insurance pools risks shared by many people, thereby, reducing the risk faced by a group. People pay to buy insurance coverage (protection from risk). In exchange, all policyholder (people who won insurance policies) receive a promise that the group of policyholders as represented by the insurance organization will pay when any policyholder experience any kind of loss.

Who can buy a Policy?
Any person who has attained majority and is eligible to enter into a valid contract can insure himself/herself and those in whom he/she has insurable interest. Policies can also be taken, subject to certain conditions, on the life of one's spouse or children. While underwriting proposals, certain factors such as the policyholder’s state of health, the proponent's income and other relevant factors are considered by the Corporation.Insurance for woman
Prior to nationalization (1956), many private insurance companies would offer insurance to female lives with some extra premium or on restrictive conditions. However, after nationalization of life insurance, the terms under which life insurance is granted to female lives have been reviewed from time-to-time.
At present, women who work and earn an income are treated at par with men. In other cases, a restrictive clause is imposed, only if the age of the female is up to 30 years and if she does not have an income attracting Income Tax.
Medical and non-medical schemes Life insurance is normally offered after a medical examination of the life to be assured. However, to facilitate greater spread of insurance and also to avoid inconvenience, LIC has been extending insurance cover without any medical examination, subject to certain conditions.

With Profit and Without Profit Plansan insurance policy can be 'with' or 'without' profit. In the former, bonuses disclosed, if any, after periodical valuations are allotted to the policy and are payable along with the contracted amount.In 'without' profit plan the contracted amount is paid without any addition. The premium rate charged for a 'with' profit policy is therefore higher than for a 'without' profit policy.



FUNCTIONS OF INSURANCE

The functions of Insurance can be bifurcated into two parts: 1.PrimaryFunctions2.SecondaryFunctions3.OtherFunctions the primary functions of insurance includes the following: Provide Protection - The primary function of insurance is to provide protection against future risk, accidents and uncertainty. Insurance cannot check the happening of the risk, but can certainly provide for the losses of risk. Insurance is actually a protection against economic loss, by sharing the risk with others. Collective bearing of risk - Insurance is a device to share the financial loss of few among many others. Insurance is a mean by which few losses are shared among larger number of people. All the insured contribute the premiums towards a fund and out of which the persons exposed to a particular risk is paid. Assessment of risk - Insurance determines the probable volume of risk by evaluating various factors that give rise to risk. Risk is the basis for determining the premium rate also Provide Certainty - Insurance is a device, which helps to change from uncertainty to certainty. Insurance is device whereby the uncertain risks may be made more certain. The secondary functions of insurance include the following: Prevention of Losses - Insurance caution individuals and businessmen to adopt suitable device to prevent unfortunate consequences of risk by observing safety instructions; installation of automatic sparkler or alarm systems, etc. Prevention of loss cause lesser payment to the assured by the insurer and this will encourage for more savings by way of premium. Reduced rates of premiums stimulate for more business and better protection to the insured. Small capital to cover larger risks - Insurance relieves the businessmen from security investments, by paying small amount of premium against larger risks and uncertainty. Contributes towards the development of larger industries - Insurance provides development opportunity to those larger industries having more risks in their setting up. Even the financial institutions may be prepared to give credit to sick industrial units, which have insured their assets including plant and machinery. The other functions of insurance include the following: Means of savings and investment - Insurance serves as savings and investment, insurance is a compulsory way of savings and it restricts the unnecessary expenses by the insured's For the purpose of availing income-tax exemptions also, people invest in insurance. Source of earning foreign exchange - Insurance is an international business. The country can earn foreign exchange by way of issue of marine insurance policies and various other ways. Risk Free trade - Insurance promotes exports insurance, which makes the foreign trade risk free with the help of different types of policies under marine insurance cover.


Important of Insurance: -

Insurance benefits society by allowing individuals to share the risks faced by many people. But it also serves many other important economic & societal functions. Insurance provides the capital that communities need to quickly rebuild & recover economically from natural disasters.

Insurance itself has become a significant economic force in most of the industrialized countries. Businessmen buy insurance to cover their employees against work-related injuries & health problems. They also insure their assets against any kind of ware n tear by natural forces & forcibly.
Insurance companies perform a type of monetary redistribution they collect premiums & eventually redistribute that money as payments. Depending on the type of insurance, redistribution can take place anywhere from a month to many decades. Because of this delay between collecting & paying out funds, insurance companies invest their funds to bring extra revenue.
Such investments help business & government finances their operations, & few profits from these investments support the operations of insurance companies. With these investment earnings, insurance companies can keep rates much lower than would otherwise be possible.












































TYPES OF POLICY IN INDIA


LIFE INSURANCE POLICY


Life is very fragile and death is a certainty. We cannot control the uncertainties of life. But, we can cover the risks surrounding us. Life insurance, simply put, is the cover for the risks that we run during our lives. It protects us from the contingencies that could affect us.
Life insurance is not for the person who passes away, it for those who survive. It is the responsibility of every bread earner to guard against the events that could affect the family in the unfortunate circumstance of his / her demise. Thus, having a life insurance policy is very vital. Before going for a life insurance policy it is imperative that you know about various types of life insurance policies. Majors among them are:
Endowment Policy
Whole Life Policy
Term Life Policy
Money-back Policy
Joint Life Policy
Group Insurance Policy
Loan Cover Term Assurance Policy
Pension Plan or Annuities
Unit Linked Insurance Plan

Endowment Policy
An endowment policy covers risk for a specified period, at the end of which the sum assured is paid back to the policyholder, along with the bonus accumulated during the term of the policy.
An endowment life insurance policy is designed primarily to provide a living benefit and only secondarily to provide life insurance protection.
Therefore, it is more of an investment than a whole life policy. Endowment life insurance pays the face value of the policy either at the insured person death or at a certain age or after a number of years of premium payment. Endowment policy is an instrument of accumulating capital for a specific purpose and protecting this savings program against the saver's premature death.

Group Insurance
Group insurance offers life insurance protection under group policies to various groups such as employers-employees, professionals, co-operatives, weaker sections of society, etc. It also provides insurance coverage for people in certain approved occupations at the lowest possible premium cost.
Group insurance plans have low premiums. Such plans are particularly beneficial to those for whom other regular policies are a costlier proposition. Group insurance plans extend cover to large segments of the population including those who cannot afford individual insurance.
A number of group insurance schemes have been designed for various groups. These include employer-employee groups, associations of professionals (such as doctors, lawyers, chartered accountants etc.), and members of cooperative banks, welfare funds, credit societies and weaker sections of society.

Joint Life Insurance Policy
Joint life insurance policies are similar to endowment policies as they too offer maturity benefits to the policyholders, apart form covering risks like all life insurance policies.

But joint life policies are categorized separately as they cover two lives simultaneously.thus offering a unique advantage in some cases, notably, for a married couple or for partners in a business firm.
Under a joint life policy the sum assured is payable on the first death and again on the death of the survivor during the term of the policy. Vested bonuses would also be paid besides the sum assured after the death of the survivor. If one or both the lives survive to the maturity date, the sum assured as well as the vested bonuses are payable on the maturity date. The premiums payable cease on the first death or on the expiry of the selected term, whichever is earlier.

Loan Cover Term Assurance Policy
Loan cover term assurance policy is an insurance policy, which covers a home loan. Such a policy covers the individual's home loan amount in case of an eventuality. The cover on such a policy keeps reducing with the passage of time as individuals keep paying their EMIs (equated monthly installments) regularly, which reduces the loan amount
This plan provides a lump sum in case of death of the life assured during the term of the plan. The lump sum will be a decreasing percentage of the initial sum assured as per the policy schedule. Since this is a non-participating (without profits) pure risk cover plan, no benefits are payable on survival to the end of the term of the policy. Various insurance companies offering loan Cover Term Assurance Policy
HDFC Standard Life Insurance
Tata AIG
ING Vysya
LIC

Money Back Policy
Money back policy provides for periodic payments of partial survival benefits during the term of the policy, as long as the policyholder is alive. They differ from endowment policy in the sense that in endowment policy survival benefits are payable only at the end of the endowment period.

An important feature of money back policies is that in the event of death at any time within the policy term, the death claim comprises full sum assured without deducting any of the survival benefit amounts, which may have already been paid as money-back components. The bonus is also calculated on the full sum assured.

Pension Plan
A pension plan or an annuity is an investment that is made either in a single lump sum payment or through installments paid over a certain number of years, in return for a specific sum that is received
Annuities differ from all the other forms of life insurance in that an annuity does not provide any life insurance cover but, instead, offers a guaranteed income either for life or a certain period. Typically annuities are bought to generate income during one's retired life, which is why they are also called pension plans. By buying an annuity or a pension plan the annuitant receives guaranteed income throughout his life. He also receives lump sum benefits for the annuitant's estate in addition to the payments during the annuitant's lifetime.

Term Life Insurance Policy
Term life insurance policy covers risk only during the selected term period. If the policyholder survives the term, the risk cover comes to an end. Term life policies are primarily designed to meet the needs of those people who are initially unable to pay the larger premium required for a whole life or an endowment assurance policy.No surrender, loan or paid-up values are granted under term life policies because reserves are not accumulated. If the premium is not paid within the grace period, the policy lapses without acquiring any paid-up value.

Whole Life Insurance Policy
A whole life policy runs as long as the policyholder is alive. As risk is covered for the entire life of the policyholder, therefore, such policies are known as whole life policies. A simple whole life policy requires the insurer to pay regular premiums throughout the life. In a whole life policy, the insured amount and the bonus is payable only to the nominee of the beneficiary upon the death of the policyholder.
There is no survival benefit as the policyholder is not entitled to any money during his / her own lifetime.

Unit linked Insurance Plans (ULIP)
Unit linked Insurance Plans (ULIP) is life insurance solution that provides for the benefits of protection and flexibility in investment. The investment is denoted as units and is represented by the value that it has attained called as Net Asset Value (NAV). The policy value at any time varies according to the value of the underlying assets at the time.
ULIP provides multiple benefits to the consumer. The benefits include:
Life protection
Investment and Savings
Flexibility
Adjustable Life Cover
Investment Options
Transparency
Options to take additional cover against
Death due to accident
Disability
Critical Illness
Surgeries
Liquidity
Tax planning

GENERAL INSURANCE POLICY

General Insurance provides much-needed protection against unforeseen events such as accidents, illness, fire, burglary et al. Unlike Life Insurance, General Insurance is not meant to offer returns but is a protection against contingencies. Almost everything that has a financial value in life and has a probability of getting lost, stolen or damaged, can be covered through General Insurance policy.

Property (both movable and immovable), vehicle, cash, household goods, health, dishonesty and also one's liability towards others can be covered under general insurance policy. Under certain Acts of Parliament, some types of insurance like Motor Insurance and Public Liability Insurance have been made compulsory.Major insurance policies that are covered under General Insurance are:1- Home Insurance2- Health Insurance3- Motor Insurance4- Travel Insurance


Home Insurance
Every man has a dream to own a house one-day. For an ordinary person it takes a whole lifetime of savings to build a house. And one cannot predict a natural calamity like earthquake. In recent times we have seen what havoc an earthquake or any other natural calamity such as floods, landslides and torrential rains can wreck. Hence home insurance is very important.

Home insurance policy also protects against other hazards like gas cylinder explosion, fire due to electric short circuit as well as man-made disaster like burglary.

Home insurance policy available in the market covers broadly two things:
1. Building structure
Contents inside the home
1. Building Structure
I). The Fire and Special Perils Cover: - this is a comprehensive packaged cover that covers damage to the structure of home due to
¨ Fire
¨ Storm, tempest, flood & inundation
¨ Riot, strike & malicious damage
¨ Lightning
¨ Explosion & implosion
¨ Aircraft damage
¨ Damage due to impact by vehicles
¨ Subsidence, landslides and rockslides
¨ Bursting and/or overflowing of water tanks, apparatus and pipes
¨ Missile testing operation
¨ Leakage from automatic Sprinkler installations
¨ Bush fire

II) Earthquake Cover: Covers damages to the structure of your house due to earthquake
III) Terrorism Cover: Covers damage to the structure of your house due to acts of terrorism

A home insurance does not cover the market value of the home. The price of the home includes the cost of the land and the cost of constructing the building structure on this land and the land cannot be insured. The insurance cover is only for the cost of constructing the building. The sum insured is calculated by multiplying your home area by the construction rate per sq. feet.

2. Contents inside the Home: -

This cover is only for damages or loss of the contents inside the home -electronic and electrical goods, furniture and fixtures, clothing, jewelry and any other contents inside the home. The covers that can be taken for the contents are as follows:
¨ The Fire and Specials Perils Cover
¨ Earthquake Cover
¨ Burglary
¨ Loss / damage to contents due to burglary or an attempted burglary
¨ Loss of jewelry, gold ornaments, silver articles and precious stones kept under lock & key

All the contents are covered on the market value of the items. This means that if there is a loss, the claim would be paid on the value of purchasing a similar new item, minus depreciation.

Health Insurance
It is said that a healthy mind resides in a healthy body. Hence it is very important to stay healthy. These days life is very fast and stressful. No matter how much you care one can always fall ill.
Health treatment nowadays is very costly. More than the disease it is the cost of treatment that takes its toll. To get rid of health worries health / medical insurance is the answer. Health insurance policy not only covers expenses incurred during hospitalization but also during the pre as well as post hospitalization stages like money spent for conducting medical tests and buying medicines. The cover will be to the extent of the sum insured.

An added attraction of Med claim policies is the tax benefits, which they attract under Section 80D. The maximum amount of deduction available under this section is Rs 10,000. In case of senior citizens, the maximum limit is Rs 15,000.
Individuals also have the option of covering themselves for medical expenses by opting for the 'Critical Illness (CI)' rider available with life insurance policies. Life insurance companies have their own list of critical illnesses as defined by them. In case of a CI rider, on the occurrence of a 'critical illness' during the policy tenure, an amount as proposed in the policy will be paid out to the individual. This is irrespective of the expenses incurred by the individual on hospitalization, medicines and other such costs.
Health insurance companies are offering innovative products to their customers these days. The latest product in this line is 'cash less hospitalization'. Here individuals do not have to pay for their hospital bills in case of hospitalization; the insurance company settles the bill directly. But certain conditions like the hospital needs to have a tie-up with the insurance company, the documents need have to be met.


Motor Insurance
Legally, no motor vehicle is allowed to be driven on the road without valid insurance. Hence, it is obligatory to get the vehicle insured.

Motor insurance policies cover against any loss or damage caused to the vehicle or its accessories due to the following natural and man made calamities.

Natural Calamities: Fire, explosion, self-ignition or lightning, earthquake, flood, typhoon, hurricane, storm, tempest, inundation, cyclone, hailstorm, frost, landslide, rockslide. Man made Calamities: Burglary, theft, riot, strike, malicious act, and accident by external means, terrorist activity, and any damage in transit by road, rail, inland waterway, lift, elevator or air.Motor insurance provides compulsory personal accident cover for individual owners of the vehicle while driving. One can also opt for a personal accident cover for passengers and third party legal liability.

Third party legal liability protects against legal liability arising due to accidental damages. It includes any permanent injury / death of a person and damage caused to the property.

Travel Insurance
Travel and tourism is one of the most fast growing sectors around the world. With rise in standards of living, more and more people are embarking on journeys and exploring new places. Before going on a trip you need to address all your travel worries.

Travel insurance policy takes care of all your travel worries. It secures you and your loved ones in their sojourn abroad. Travel insurance plans offer host of benefits such as medical expenses, loss or delay of baggage or passport, personal accident, financial emergency assistance and hijack distress allowance.

Travel insurance plans cover expenses incurred due to delayed flight, cancellation of trip, and also take care of valued assets left at home.


















INDIAN INSURANCE INDUSTRY
The story of insurance is probably as old as the story of mankind. The same instinct that prompts modern businessmen today to secure themselves against loss and disaster existed in primitive men also. They too sought to avert the evil consequences of fire and flood and loss of life and were willing to make some sort of sacrifice in order to achieve security. Though the concept of insurance is largely a development of the recent past, particularly after the industrial era – past few centuries – yet its beginnings date back almost 6000 years.
Brief History of Insurance: -
Life Insurance in its modern form came to India from England in the year 1818. Oriental Life Insurance Company started by Europeans in Calcutta was the first life insurance Company on Indian Soil. All the insurance companies established during that period were brought up with the purpose of looking after the needs of European community and these companies were not insuring Indian natives. However, later with the efforts of eminent people like Babu Muttylal Seal, the foreign life insurance companies started insuring Indian lives. But Indian lives were being treated as sub-standard lives and heavy extra premiums were being charged on them. Bombay Mutual Life Assurance Society heralded the birth of first Indian life insurance company in the year 1870, and covered Indian lives at normal rates. Starting as Indian enterprise with highly patriotic motives, insurance companies came into existence to carry the message of insurance and social security through insurance to various sectors of society.
Bharat Insurance Company (1896) was also one of such companies inspired by nationalism. The Swadeshi movement of 1905-1907 gave rise to more insurance companies. The United India in Madras, National Indian and National Insurance in Calcutta and the Co-operative Assurance at Lahore were established in 1906. In 1907, Hindustan Co-operative Insurance Company took its birth in one of the rooms of the Jorasanko, house of the great poet Rabindranath Tagore, in Calcutta. The Indian Mercantile, General Assurance and Swadeshi Life (later Bombay Life) were some of the companies established during the same period. Prior to 1912 India had no legislation to regulate insurance business. In the year 1912, the Life Insurance Companies Act, and the Provident Fund Act were passed. The Life Insurance Companies Act, 1912 made it necessary that an actuary should certify the premium rate tables and periodical valuations of companies. But the Act discriminated between foreign and Indian companies on many accounts, putting the Indian companies at a disadvantage.
The first two decades of the twentieth century saw lot of growth in insurance business. From 44 companies with total business-in-force as Rs.22.44 crore, it rose to 176 companies with total business-in-force as Rs.298 crore in 1938. During the mushrooming of insurance companies many financially unsound concerns were also floated which failed miserably. The Insurance Act 1938 was the first legislation governing not only life insurance but also non-life insurance to provide strict state control over insurance business. The demand for nationalization of life insurance industry was made repeatedly in the past but it gathered momentum in 1944 when a bill to amend the Life Insurance Act 1938 was introduced in the Legislative Assembly.
However, it was much later on the 19th of January 1956, that life insurance in India was nationalized. About 154 Indian insurance companies 16 non-Indian companies and 75 provident were operating in India at the time of nationalization. Nationalization was accomplished in two stages; initially the management of the companies was taken over by means of an Ordinance, and later, the ownership too by means of a comprehensive bill. The Parliament of India passed the Life Insurance Corporation Act on the 19th of June 1956. The Life Insurance Corporation of India was created on 1st September, 1956, with the objective of spreading life insurance much more widely and in particular to the rural areas with a view to reach all insurable persons in the country, providing them adequate financial cover at a reasonable cost.
LIC had 5 zonal offices, 33 divisional offices and 212 branch offices, apart from its corporate office in the year 1956. Since life insurance contracts are long term contracts and during the currency of the policy it requires a variety of services need was felt in the later years to expand the operations and place a branch office at each district headquarter. Re-organization of LIC took place and large numbers of new branch offices were opened. As a result of Re-organization servicing functions were transferred to the branches, and branches were made accounting units. It worked wonders with the performance of the corporation. It may be seen that from about 200.00 crores of New Business in 1957 the corporation crossed 1000.00 crores only in the year 1969-70, and it took another 10 years for LIC to cross 2000.00 crore mark of new business. But with re-organization happening in the early eighties, by 1985-86 LIC had already crossed 7000.00 crore Sum Assured on new policies.
Today LIC functions with 2048 fully computerized branch offices, 100 divisional offices, 7 zonal offices and the corporate office. LIC’s Wide Area Network covers 100 divisional offices and connects all the branches through a Metro Area Network. LIC has tied up with some Banks and Service providers to offer on-line premium collection facility in selected cities. LIC’s ECS and ATM premium payment facility is an addition to customer convenience. Apart from on-line Kiosks and IVRS, Info Centers have been commissioned at Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, New Delhi, Pune and many other cities. With a vision of providing easy access to its policyholders, LIC has launched its satellite sampark offices. The satellite offices are smaller, leaner and closer to the customer. The digitalized records of the satellite offices will facilitate anywhere servicing and many other conveniences in the future.
LIC continues to be the dominant life insurer even in the liberalized scenario of Indian insurance and is moving fast on a new growth trajectory surpassing its own past records. LIC has issued over one crore policies during the current year. It has crossed the milestone of issuing 1,01,32,955 new policies by 15th Oct 2005, posting a healthy growth rate of 16.67% over the corresponding period of the previous year.
From then to now, LIC has crossed many milestones and has set unprecedented performance records in various aspects of life insurance business. The same motives which inspired our forefathers to bring insurance into existence in this country inspire us at LIC to take this message of protection to light the lamps of security in as many homes as possible and to help the people in providing security to their families.
Some of the important milestones in the life insurance business in India are:
1818: Oriental Life Insurance Company, the first life insurance company on Indian soil started functioning.
1870: Bombay Mutual Life Assurance Society, the first Indian life insurance company started its business.
1912: The Indian Life Assurance Companies Act enacted as the first statute to regulate the life insurance business.
1928: The Indian Insurance Companies Act enacted to enable the government to collect statistical information about both life and non-life insurance businesses.
1938: Earlier legislation consolidated and amended to by the Insurance Act with the objective of protecting the interests of the insuring public.
1956: 245 Indian and foreign insurers and provident societies are taken over by the central government and nationalized. LIC formed by an Act of Parliament, viz. LIC Act, 1956, with a capital contribution of Rs. 5 crore from the Government of India.
The General insurance business in India, on the other hand, can trace its roots to the Triton Insurance Company Ltd., the first general insurance company established in the year 1850 in Calcutta by the British.
Some of the important milestones in the general insurance business in India are:
1907: The Indian Mercantile Insurance Ltd. set up, the first company to transact all classes of general insurance business.
1957: General Insurance Council, a wing of the Insurance Association of India, frames a code of conduct for ensuring fair conduct and sound business practices.
1968: The Insurance Act amended to regulate investments and set minimum solvency margins and the Tariff Advisory Committee set up.
1972: The General Insurance Business (Nationalization) Act, 1972 nationalized thegeneral insurance business in India with effect from 1st January 1973.
107 insurers amalgamated and grouped into four company’s viz. the NationalInsurance Company Ltd., the New India Assurance Company Ltd., theOriental Insurance Company Ltd. and the United India Insurance CompanyLtd. GIC incorporated as a company.
Privatization in 1990s: -
As part of the wide-ranging economic reforms initiated in 1991, a committee headed by Mr. R. N. Malhotra examined the structure of the Insurance sector. The committee’s recommendation to open up the sector to private sector participation was implemented by the Government in 2000. The key element in the reform process was the participation of overseas insurance companies, through restricted to 26 percent of the capital.
With the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority Act 1999 (IRDA) formally coming in to force, the insurance industry was opened up for private sector participation.
The main objective of setting up the IRDA was to project the interests of Policyholder and to regulate promote and ensured orderly development of the insurance industry.
Over four decades the industry has been a state monopoly. Till date the LIC has insured over 120 million individuals and has a vast sales network of over 7 lakh insurance agents. The industry is upsurge in consumer awareness, building immense and unavoidable pressure among the players.
India is a market of mainly small policies. The average annual life premium is less than the equivalent of $ 100 million. India is also marked by a very low insurance penetration rate. Although no authentic statistics is available, a rough estimate is that only 20 percent of the insurance populations are insured.


Insurance Industry in India at present

With an annual growth rate of 15-20% and the largest number of life insurance policies in force, the potential of the Indian insurance industry is huge. Total value of the Indian insurance market (2004-05) is estimated at Rs. 450 billion (US$10 billion). According to government sources, the insurance and banking services' contribution to the country's gross domestic product (GDP) is 7% out of which the gross premium collection forms a significant part. The funds available with the state-owned Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) for investments are 8% of GDP.Till date, only 20% of the total insurable population of India is covered under various life insurance schemes, the penetration rates of health and other non-life insurances in India is also well below the international level. These facts indicate the of immense growth potential of the insurance sector.

The year 1999 saw a revolution in the Indian insurance sector, as major structural changes took place with the ending of government monopoly and the passage of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) Act. Lift all entry restrictions for private players and allowing foreign players to enter the market with some limits on direct foreign ownership. Though, the existing rule says that a foreign partner can hold 26% equity in an insurance company, a proposal to increase this limit to 49% is pending with the government. Since opening up of the insurance sector in 1999, foreign investments of Rs. 8.7 billion have poured into the Indian market and 21 private companies have been granted licenses.
Innovative products, smart marketing, and aggressive distribution have enabled fledgling private insurance companies to sign up Indian customers faster than anyone expected. Indians, who had always seen life insurance as a tax saving device, are now suddenly turning to the private sector and snapping up the new innovative products on offer.

The life insurance industry in India grew by an impressive 36%, with premium income from new business at Rs. 253.43 billion during the fiscal year 2004-2005, braving stiff competition from private insurers. This report "Indian Insurance Industry: New Avenues for Growth 2012", finds that the market share of the state behemoth, LIC, has clocked 21.87% growth in business at Rs.197.86 billion by selling 2.4 billion new policies in 2004-05. But this was still not enough to arrest the fall in its market share, as private players grew by 129% to mop up Rs. 55.57 billion in 2004-05 from Rs. 24.29 billion in 2003-04.

Though the total volume of LIC's business increased in the last fiscal year (2004-2005) compared to the previous one, its market share came down from 87.04 to 78.07%. The 14 private insurers increased their market share from about 13% to about 22% in a year's time. The figures for the first two months of the fiscal year 2005-06 also speak of the growing share of the private insurers. The share of LIC for this period has further come down to 75 percent, while the private players have grabbed over 24 percent.

There are presently 12 general insurance companies with four public sector companies and eight private insurers. According to estimates, private insurance companies collectively have a 10% share of the non-life insurance market.

Though the focus of this market research report is on the potential growth on the Indian Insurance Sector, it also talks about the market size, market segmentation, and key developments in the market after 1999. The report gives an instant overview of the Indian non-life insurance market, and covers fire, marine, and other non-life insurance. The data is supplied in both graphical and tabular format for ease of interpretation and analysis. This report also provides company profiles of the major private insurance companies.

Companies
Aviva Life Insurance
Bajaj Allianz
Birla S un Life Insurance
HDFC Standard Life Insurance
ICICI Prudential
ING Vysya
Kotak Mahindra
LIC
Max New York Life Insurance
Metlife India Insurance
Reliance Life Insurance
SBI Life Insurance
Shriram Life Insurance
Tata AIG Life Insurance

Insurance billing software allows medical offices to automatically process insurance claim forms. It interacts with their scheduling software, accounting software and other office programs to simplify this process. Some services charge a fee (per provider) for submitting medical claims through clearinghouses, but offer free electronic submission. Other products leave you responsible for insurance claims submission.
This software can be purchased as a stand-alone product with a variety of service levels from claim printing only to complete claim processing with electronic submission capabilities. This software is also included as part of a medical software suite including patient scheduling, accounting, electronic medical records, contact management, and time management applications.
Individual premium collected by companies

The Life Insurance Industry underwrote Individual Single Premium of Rs.1006304.98 lakh during the period ended August 2006, of which the Private Insurers garnered Rs.78855.88 lakh and LIC garnered Rs.927449.10 lakh. The corresponding figures for the previous year were Rs.276989.74 lakh for the industry, with Private Insurers underwriting Rs.33180.53 lakh and LIC Rs.243809.21 lakh. The Individual Non-Single Premium underwritten during April-August, 2006 was Rs.1051634.72 lakh of which the Private Insurers underwrote Rs.367186.09 lakh and LIC Rs.684448.63 lakh. The corresponding figures for the previous year were Rs.496284.12 lakh, Rs.160225.63 lakh and Rs.336058.49 lakh respectively.

Group premium collected by companies

The industry underwrote Group Single Premium of Rs.266671.08 lakh of which the private insurers underwrote Rs.20448.23 lakh and LIC Rs.246222.85 lakh; the lives covered being 5982289, 340793 and 5641496 respectively. The corresponding numbers for the previous year were Rs.117911.79 lakh with private insurers underwriting Rs.9819.78 lakh and LIC Rs.108092.01 lakh; and the lives covered being 2546506, 293858 and 2252648 respectively. The Group Non-Single Premium underwritten during April-August, 2006 was Rs.31995.70 lakh, which was underwritten entirely by the private Insurers, covering 1607598 lives. The corresponding numbers for the previous year were Rs. 13244.74 lakh and covering 795816 lives.
Table No.-2.1

'First Year Premium collected by Life Insurers for the Period Ended August, 2006

S.No.
Insurer
Premium u /w (Rs. In Lakh)
August, o6
Up to August, o6
Up to August, o5
1.

Bajaj Allianz
Individual Single Premium
Individual Non-Single Premium
Group Single Premium
Group Single Premium

4540.84
15464.87
73.49
159.76


40794.76
58696.95
246.90
894.12


15694.37
26261.02
0.00
961.04

2.
ING Vysya
Individual Single Premium
Individual Non-Single Premium
Group Single Premium
Group Non-Single Premium

236.75
1385.41
0.00
119.45



1505.95
14451.40
203.41
346.20


2.38
4390.06
375.62
142.14

3.
Reliance Life
Individual Single Premium
Individual Non-Single Premium
Group Single Premium
Group Non-Single Premium

444.53
2520.84
39.18
64.80


5603.21
14856.43
753.27
319.95


2703.05
1121.51
60.69
244.29

4.
SBI Life
Individual Single Premium
Individual Non-Single Premium
Group Single Premium
Group Non-Single Premium

3035.98
4600.58
2126.26
358.45


10436.60
27924.09
7435.81
5092.46


1595.41
3901.24
6429.52
1289.46

5.
Tata AIG
Individual Single Premium
Individual Non-Single Premium
Group Single Premium
Group Non-Single Premium

21.06
3697.64
564.81
168.36



230.13
18432.54
2109.43
803.96


180.85
13302.77
693.06
874.39

6.
HDFC Standard
Individual Single Premium
Individual Non-Single Premium
Group Single Premium
Group Non-Single Premium

722.28
6416.99
789.79
359.59


4965.36
33747.22
3297.60
1793.46


4057.83
19801.77
1768.89
1356.57

7.
ICICI Prudential
Individual Single Premium
Individual Non-Single Premium
Group Single Premium
Group Non-Single Premium

1822.73
17427.61
1578.64
2722.00


10130.86
111384.07
5630.79
15170.70


2343.53
52778.41
171.02
7172.52

8.
Birla Sun life
Individual Single Premium
Individual Non-Single Premium
Group Single Premium
Group Non-Single Premium

170.31
3749.37
81.34
665.87


1194.52
21196.82
450.08
3449.69


435.47
14334.82
217.03
558.16

9.
Aviva
Individual Single Premium
Individual Non-Single Premium
Group Single Premium
Group Non-Single Premium

145.65
3845.51
38.05
378.17



1054.74
22073.77
120.07
1415.95


145.21
9423.96
57.58
113.25

10.
Kotak Mahindra Old Mutual
Individual Single Premium
Individual Non-Single Premium
Group Single Premium
Group Non-Single Premium


337.98
2771.20
71.20
552.38


1721.13
11050.51
200.87
1742.08


587.44
5502.93
46.17
246.54

11.
Max New York
Individual Single Premium
Individual Non-Single Premium
Group Single Premium
Group Non-Single Premium

14.23
4623.58
o.oo
16.36


35.70
24899.48
o.oo
143.20


63.60
11418.88
o.oo
58.00

12.
Met Life
Individual Single Premium
Individual Non-Single Premium
Group Single Premium
Group Non-Single Premium

38.84
1439.19
o.oo
90.07


196.82
6828.93
o.oo
730.16


197.62
2899.61
o.oo
228.38

13.
Sahara Life
Individual Single Premium
Individual Non-Single Premium
Group Single Premium
Group Non-Single Premium

84.10
30.12
o.oo
o.oo


557.52
159.81
o.oo
93.76


18.95
243.48
0.20
o.oo
14.
Shriram Life
Individual Single Premium
Individual Non-Single Premium
Group Single Premium
Group Non-Single Premium

416.03
443.65
o.oo
o.oo


428.57
1399.27
o.oo
o.oo


o.oo
o.oo
o.oo
o.oo

15.
Bharti Axa Life
Individual Single Premium
Individual Non-Single Premium
Group Single Premium
Group Non-Single Premium

o.oo
84.81
o.oo
o.oo



o.oo
84.81
o.oo
o.oo


o.oo
o.oo
o.oo
o.oo

16.
Private total
Individual Single Premium
Individual Non-Single Premium
Group Single Premium
Group Non-Single Premium

12031.32
68501.38
5362.76
5655.28


78855.88
367186.09
20448.23
31995.70



28025.70
165380.46
9819.78
13244.74

17.
LIC
Individual Single Premium
Individual Non-Single Premium
Group Single Premium
Group Non-Single Premium

155759.21
225435.86
74176.34
o.oo

927449.10
684448.63
246222.85
o.oo

243809.21
336058.49
108092.01
o.oo

18.
Grand Total
Individual Single Premium
Individual Non-Single Premium
Group Single Premium
Group Non-Single Premium

167790.53
293937.24
79539.10
5655.28


1006304.98
1051634.72
266671.08
31995.70


271834.91
501438.95
117911.79
13244.74






Table No.-2.2
Total premium collected by the companies in August 2006: -
S.N.o
Company Name
Total Premium
1.
Bajaj Allianz
21654
2.
ING Vysya
1740
3.
Reliance Life
3067
4.
SBI Life
10119
5.
Tata AIG
4450
6.
HDFC Standard Life
8286
7.
ICICI prudential
22542
8.
Birla Sun Life
4665
9.
Aviva Life
4406
10.
Kotak mahindra Old Mutual
3731
11.
Max New York
4654
12.
Met Life
1568
13.
Sahara Life
114
14.
Bharti Axa Life
859
15.
Private Total
91549
16.
LIC
455370
17.
Grand Total
546919
















Market share of companies in August 2006





















Figure-1









Business models

At present the new entrants are experimenting with different strategies to penetrate the market by developing multiple channels distribution models. It is however, recognized that for a long time to come agency domination will be a feature of this market. Other channels such as banks, dedicated distribution through alliances and e-trade will take time to make a sizeable impact. It is the general perception that life insurance will continue to be sold through face to face contract for quite a while.
Today after nearly fifty years, the insurance sector is a buyers market where their consumer has the choice to select from a variety of insurance products and services; some of the early movers adopted by private insurers can be discussed here:

Distribution modals

Ø Alliances with banks: Insurance is using branch networks to sell insurance product. This enables insurers to leverage on low distribution costs by using existing networks. Insurers are also targeting bank employees as par prospective customer and agents to market products.

Ø Non-bank Alliances: These are tie-ups with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) mainly to tap the rural markets. This would enable insurers to ensure IRDA compliance with respect to rural coverage.

Ø Retails financial service distribution: This involves the tie-ups with NBFCs to act as corporate agents, and also enabled insurers to cross sell with other financial services.

Ø Most new entrants are targeting the Indian middle segment estimated at over 250 million persons.

Ø High focus on direct selling: the preferred route is the agency network. The agency channels constitute 90-95 percent of the market.

With the entry of private insurers, the market is already seeing a wide array of products. Insurers today are not merely looking at basic life insurance solution, but offering products with a combination of benefits (riders) which could be bundled / customized to suit an individual’s needs. Insurance is also being promoted as a sound long term’s investment option. In terms of returns Insurance products today offer a competitive 10-12 percent. Besides returns when really increases the appeal of Insurance is the benefit of life protection from Insurance products along with health cover benefits. The tax benefits are also attractive.

While the plain individual insurance will remain popular, sales of new products such as single premium, unit-linked, retirement product, money back and annuity are set to rise. With parliament passing the Insurance Amendment Bill, non-profit products likely to become increasingly prevalent.

Key Challenges faced by Private Insurers

The key challenge, which all private insurers will face in the coming months, are in the areas of product innovation, managing investment, distribution, customer’s service and expense control. Some of these are briefly discussed here:
Life Insurance in India has traditionally been distributed through the agency channel. The limiting factor for private insurers will be the extensive and expensive distribution structure required for reaching through the segment.
Distribution will be a key determinant success for all Life Insurance companies. The new entrants cannot expect to match the extensive distribution network of LIC (of over 7 Lakh agents). Of these only a small proportion is meaningfully productive. Since there were no requirements relating to training and passing of examination. Both of which ares now required, requirement was in inexpensive and rather casual. The LIC did not mind even if a large part of its agency force remained inactive and/or unproductive. This is not the case now.

Agents have to be trained for 100 hours and they have to pass an examination. It is estimated that by the time the insurer licenses an agent. Because of this insurers cannot afford to have many non-productive and this will strengthen the market.

The alternative channels such as banks and other institutions are slowly emerging .It is to hope that a variety of channels will emerge in due course as result of liberalization of this sector.

Intermediaries and Direct Marketing: -

Though the agency channel will definitely remain as the dominant distribution channel, alternative channels like corporate agencies, brokers and bank assurance will play a meaningful role in distribution. Private insurers are also engaging in direct marketing to high net worth individuals through channels like work site marketing a relatively inexpensive and easy launch potential distribution channel.
New entrants will constantly explore avenues to increase the number of distribution channels through a variety of distribution patterns, given the customer profile.

Rural and Social Insurance: -

As per the IRDA regulation all insurers have an obligation to fulfill in the rural and social sectors. This obligation is expressed as a percentage of total policy sales in the rural sector and number of lives insured in the socially weaker sections of society to the total.

The rural obligation ate to sell specific percentage of policies to the rural sector 5 percent in first year, 7.5 percent in the second year and up to 15 percent in fifth year. In social sector, insurers are required to insure a specific of lives 5000 in first year, 7500 in second year and up to 20000 lives in fifth year and beyond in these areas, local partnerships established by private matter. Some of them have roped in the village or panchayat heads to comply with the rural obligation. Some private insurers have tied up with Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) to satisfy the social obligation.

It is expected that these rigorous requirements will help increase insurance penetration and provided the much-need insurance protection to the segments that constitute a large percentage of the population. In short, it is expected that insurance will gradually cease to be more urban phenomenon.

In this competitive scenario, a key difference in gaining a winning edge is the customer service provided by the insurers, be it, in terms of quality of advice given by the distribution channels (advisors, banks) or policy processing to settlement of claims. For the first time in four decades the customer is really the focus and companies are vying with one another to perform to very transparent and tight benchmarks of service.

It is significant that the IRDA has brought out regulation that prescribes service standards and parameters. These policyholders protection regulations are comprehensive they ensure transparency and accuracy, fix responsibility on insurance companies for several areas involving customer service etc. this piece of legislation is seen as a land mark in India,.

Role of Technology: -

In the present competitive environment technology will play a definite role in achieving a competitive edge. Technology will play an increasing role in aiding design and administering of insurance products as well as in building and maintaining long term customer relationship.

Future Opportunities: -

Opening up of the pensions sector:

Considerable discussion has taken place on this subject only some form of retirement benefits protects 11 percent of the working population. It is learnt that a detailed proposal is before the government to open up the pension sector. Providing coverage through a national pension scheme is challenging but it is necessary, particularly for the non-salaried or self employed workforce and those engaged in agricultural the Life Insurance Industry alive. Awareness has increased and it is being expected that the market will grow fast. In five years one will be looking at an annual premium income of Rs. 100,000 Crores in the Life Insurance Sectors Life Insurance will at long last attain its rightful place in the economy.









INSURANCE REGULATORY AND DEVELOPMENTAUTHORITY

On the recommendation of Malhotra Committee, an Insurance Regulatory Development Act (IRDA) passed by Indian Parliament in 1999. Its main aim is to activate an insurance regulatory apparatus essential for proper monitoring and control of the Insurance industry. Due to this Act several Indian private companies have entered into the insurance market, and companies have joined with foreign partners.

In this economic reform process the Insurance Companies will boost the socioeconomic development process. The hue amount of funds that will be at the disposal of Insurance Companies will be directed as desired avenues like housing, safe drinking water, electricity, primary education and infrastructure. The growth of the debt market will also get a boost. Above all the policyholders will get, better pricing of products from competitive insurance companies.

4. COMPOSITION OF AUTHORITY: - The Authority shall consist of the following members, namely: -
(a) A Chairperson;
(b) Not more than five whole-time members;
(c) Not more than four part-time members,

to be appointed by the Central Government from amongst persons of ability, integrity and standing who have knowledge or experience in life insurance, general insurance, actuarial science, finance, economics, law, accountancy, administration or any other discipline which would, in the opinion of the Central Government, be useful to the Authority:
Provided that the Central Government shall, while appointing the Chairperson and the whole-time members, ensure that at least one person each is a person having knowledge or experience in life insurance, general insurance or actuarial science, respectively.
Duties, Powers & Function: -
Section 14 of IRDA Act, 1999 lays down the duty powers & functions of IRDA.
· Subject to the provisions of the Act, & any other law for the time being in force the authority shall have the duty to regulate promote & ensure orderly growth of the insurance business & re-insurance business.
· Without prejudice to the generality of the provisions contained in sub-section (1) the powers & functions of the authority shall include. Issue to the applicant a certificate of registration, renew, and modify. Withdraw suspend or cancel such registration.
1. Protecting of the interest of the policyholder' insurable interest, settlement of insurance claim surrender value of policy & other terms & conditions of contract of insurance.
2. Specifying requisite qualification code of conduct & practical training or intermediary or insurance intermediaries & agents.
3. Specifying the conduct for surveyors & loss assessors.
4. Promoting efficiency in the conduct of insurance business.
5. Promoting & regulating organizations connected with the insurance & re-insurance business;
6. Levying fees & other charges for carrying out the purpose of this Act;
7. Calling for information form, undertaking inspection of, conducting enquiries & investigations including audit of the insurers, intermediaries, insurance intermediaries & other organizations connected with the insurance business;
8. Control & regulations of the rates, advantages, terms & conditions that may be offered by insurer in respect of general insurance business not so controlled & regulated by the Tariff Advisory Committee under the section 64U of the Insurance Act, 1938 (4 of 1938);
9. Specifying the firm & manner in which books of account shall be maintained & statement of accounts shall be rendered by insurers & other insurance intermediaries;
10. Regulating investments of funds by insurance companies;
11. Regulating maintenance of margin of solvency;
12. Adjudication’s of disputes between insurers & intermediaries or insurance intermediaries;
13. Supervising the functioning of the Tariff Advisory Committee;
14. Specifying the percentage of percentage of premium income of the insurer to finance schemes for promoting & regulating professional organizations referred to in clause (f);
15. Specifying the percentage of life insurance business & general insurance business to be undertaken by the insurer in the rural or social sector.
17. Exercising such other powers as may be prescribed

Life Insurance is a contract for payment of a sum of money to the person assured (no nominee) on the happening of the event insured against. The contract provides for the payment of premium periodically to the Insurance Company by the assured. The contract provides for the payment of an amount on the date of maturity or at specified dates at periodic intervals or at unfortunate death, if it occurs earlier.
By the year 1956, 154 Indian insurance, 16-non -Indian insurance and 75 provident societies were carrying on Life Insurance business in India. On 1st September 1956 all the Insurance Companies were nationalized. On September 1956, Indian Parliament passed LIC Act and the state run life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) has held the monopoly in countries life insurance sector.
In the year 1999, the Insurance Regulatory Development Act (IRDA) was passed in Indian Parliament. By this act a door was open for private companies with foreign equity Life Insurance. By this act an Indian promoter can invest either wholly in an insurance venture or team up with a foreign insurer, with a cap of 26 percent of equity for a foreign partner.


INSURANCE COMPANIES IN INDIA

Before insurance sector was opened to the private sector Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) was the only insurance company in India. After the opening up of Insurance sector in India there has been a glut of insurance companies in India. These companies have come up with innovative and flexible insurance policies to cater to varying needs of the individual. Opening up of the Insurance sector has also forced the Lic to tighten up its belt and deliver better service. All in all it has been a bonanza for the consumer.
Major Life insurance Companies in India are:
Aviva Life Insurance
Bajaj Allianz
Birla S un Life Insurance
HDFC Standard Life Insurance
ICICI Prudential
ING Vysya
Kotak Mahindra
LIC
Max New York Life Insurance
Metlife India Insurance
Reliance Life Insurance
SBI Life Insurance
Shriram Life Insurance
Tata AIG Life Insurance
Aviva life insurance, India
Aviva Life Insurance Company India Pvt. Ltd. is a joint venture between Aviva of UK and Dabur, one of India's leading producers of traditional healthcare products. Aviva holds a 26 per cent stake in the joint venture and the Dabur group holds the balance 74 per cent share.
Founded in 1884, Dabur is one of India's oldest and largest groups of companies with consolidated annual turnover in excess of Rs 1,899 crores. A professionally managed company, it is the country's leading producer of traditional healthcare products.

Aviva is UK's largest and the world's sixth largest insurance Group. It is one of the leading providers of life and pensions products to Europe and has substantial businesses elsewhere around the world.
Aviva pioneered the concept of Bank Assurance in India. Currently, Aviva has Bank Assurance tie-ups with ABN Amro Bank, American Express Bank, Canara Bank, Centurion Bank of Punjab, The Lakshmi Vilas Bank Ltd. and Punjab & Sind Bank, and 11 Co-operative Banks in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Jammu & Kashmir and Maharashtra and one regional Bank in Sikkim.Aviva has 40 Branches in India (including rural branches) supporting its distribution network. Through its Bank Assurance partner locations, Aviva products are available in 378 towns and cities across India.


Bajaj Allianz
Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance Co. Ltd. is a joint venture between two leading conglomerates- Allianz AG, one of the world's largest insurance companies, and Bajaj Auto, one of the biggest two and three wheeler manufacturers in the world.
Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance: -

¨ No.1 Private Life Insurance Company in India for 2005-06
¨ Growth rate of 216%for financial year 2005-2006
¨ Over 15,00,000 satisfied customers
¨ A countrywide network of 700+ offices
¨ Assets under management Rs. 3,324 cr.
¨ Shareholder capital base of Rs. 500 cr.
As a promoter of Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance Co. Ltd., Bajaj Auto has the following to offer

¨ Financial strength and stability to support the Insurance Business.
¨ A strong brand-equity.
¨ A good market reputation as a world-class organization.
¨ An extensive distribution network.
¨ Adequate experience of running a large organization.
Bajaj Group: -

Bajaj Auto Ltd, the Flagship Company of the Rs. 8000 crore Bajaj group is the largest manufacturer of two-wheelers and three-wheelers in India and one of the largest in the world.
A household name in India, Bajaj Auto has a strong brand image & brand loyalty synonymous with quality & customer focus.

A STRONG INDIAN BRAND- HAMARA BAJAJ

¨ One of the largest 2 & 3 wheeler manufacturer in the world
¨ 21 million vehicles on the roads across the globe
¨ Managing funds of over Rs 4000 cr.
¨ Bajaj Auto finance one of the largest auto finance cos. in India
¨ Rs. 4,744 Cr. Turnover & Profits of 538 Cr. in 2002-03
¨ It has joined hands with Allianz to provide the Indian consumers with a distinct option in Terms of life insurance products.

Allianz Group: -


Allianz Group is one of the world’ leading insurer and financial services provider Founded in 1890 in Berlin, Allianz is now present in over 70 countries with almost 174,000 employees. At the top of the international group is the holding company, Allianz AG, with its head office in Munich.
Allianz Group provides its more than 60 million customers worldwide with a comprehensive range of services in the areas of
¨ Property and Casualty Insurance,
¨ Life and Health Insurance,
¨ Asset Management and Banking.

ALLIANZ AG- A GLOBAL FINANCIAL POWERHOUSE: -

¨ Worldwide 2nd by Gross Written Premiums - Rs.4, 46,654 cr.
¨ 3rd largest Assets under Management (AUM) & largest amongst Insurance cos. –AUM of Rs.51, 96,959 cr.
¨ 12th largest corporation in the world
¨ 49.8 % of global business from Life Insurance
¨ Established in 1890, 110 yrs of Insurance expertise
¨ 70 countries, 173,750 employees worldwide

Birla Sun Life Insurance

Birla Sun Life Insurance Company Limited is a joint venture between Aditya Birla Group and Sun Life Financial of Canada. The Aditya Birla Group is India's first truly multinational corporation. Global in vision, rooted in Indian values, the Group is driven by a performance ethic pegged on value creation for its multiple stakeholders. A US$ 12 billion conglomerate, with a market capitalization of US$ 20 billion, an extraordinary force of 88,000 employees belonging to over 20 different nationalities anchors it. Over 23 per cent of its revenues flow from its operations across the world. The Group's products and services offer distinctive customer solutions. Its 74 state-of-the-art manufacturing units and sectoral services span India, Thailand, Laos, Indonesia, Philippines, Egypt, Canada, Australia, China, USA, UK, Germany and Hungary.A premium conglomerate, the Aditya Birla Group is a dominant player in all of the sectors in which it operates. Among these are viscose staple fibber, non-ferrous metals, cement, viscose filament yarn, branded apparel, carbon black, chemicals, fertilizers, sponge iron, insulators, financial services, telecom, BPO and IT services.
Sun Life Assurance, Sun Life Financial primary insurance business, is one of the leading insurance companies of the world and ranks amongst the largest international financial services organizations in the world. The Group has presence in several countries such as Canada, United States, Philippines, Japan, Indonesia, India and Bermuda.
HDFC Standard Life Insurance
HDFC Standard Life Insurance Co. Ltd. is a joint venture between HDFC Ltd., India's largest housing finance institution and Standard Life Assurance Company, Europe's largest mutual life company. It was the first life insurance Company to be granted a certificate of registration by the IRDA on The 23rd of October 2000.
Standard Life, UK was founded in 1825 and has experience of over 180 years. The company is rated as "very strong" by Standard & Poor's (AA) and "excellent" by Moody's (Aa2).
HDFC Standard Life's cumulative premium income, including the first year premiums and renewal premiums is Rs. 672.3 Crores for the financial year, Apr-Nov 2005. So far the company has covered over 11,00,000 individuals and has declared 5th consecutive bonus in as many years for its 'with profit' policyholders.

ICICI Prudential Life Insurance

ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company is a joint venture between ICICI Bank, a premier financial powerhouse and prudential plc, a leading international financial services group headquartered in the United Kingdom. ICICI was established in 1955 to lend money for industrial development. Today, it has diversified into retail banking and is the largest private bank in the country. Prudential plc was established in 1848 and is presently the largest life insurance Company in the UK.

ICICI Prudential is currently the No. 1 private life insurer in the country. For the financial year ended March 31, 2005, the company garnered Rs 1584 crore of new business premium for a total sum assured of Rs 13,780 crore and wrote nearly 615,000 policies. ING Vysya Life Insurance
ING Vysya Life Insurance Company Limited is a joint venture between Vysya Bank and ING Group of Holland, the world's 4th largest financial services group, with presence across 50 countries, and a heritage of over 150 years.

ING Vysya Life Insurance Company Private Limited entered the private life insurance industry inIndia in September 2001. With in a short span of time ING Vysya Life Insurance has registered an impressive growth. The company currently has over 10,000 active advisors working from 75 branches (in 30 cities) across the country and over 2300 employees. Kotak Mahindra Old Mutual Life Insurance Limited

Kotak Mahindra Old Mutual Life Insurance Ltd. is a joint venture between Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. (KMBL), and Old Mutual plc. Kotak Mahindra is one of India's leading financial institutions and offers a range of financial services such as commercial banking, stock broking, mutual funds, life insurance, and investment banking.

Old Mutual was established more than 150 years ago and offers a diverse range of financial services in South Africa, the United States and the United Kingdom. The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange with a market capitalization and has its headquarters in London. Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC)

Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) is an autonomous body authorized to run the life insurance business in India with its Head Office at Mumbai. It has been established by an act of the Parliament and started functioning from 1/9/1956.
LIC is the biggest insurance player in the country. Out of the total premium of Rs 3766 crore generated by the insurance industry through group business in the year 2005-06, LIC alone accounted for Rs 3051 crore.
In the financial year 2005-06, LIC has grown at 30.68%. In respect of number of lives insured, LIC has shown a growth of over 152%. In respect of number of schemes, LIC has a growth of 2%. LIC's market share in number of individuals covered and number of policies stands at 77% and 81%, respectively.
Max New York Life Insurance
Max New York Life Insurance Company Limited is a joint venture between Max India Limited, a multi-business corporate, and New York Life International, a global expert in life insurance.

New York Life is a Fortune 100 company that has over 160 years of experience in the life insurance business. Max India Limited is a multi-business corporate dealing in Clinical Research, IT and Telecom Services, and Specialty Plastic Products businesses.

Max New York Life Insurance started its operations in India in 2000. It is the first life insurance Company in India to be awarded the IS0 9001:2000 certifications. Max New York offers customized products tailored to suit individual's needs. With its various Products and Riders, there are more than 400 product combinations to choose from. Today, Max New York Life Insurance has a network of 57 offices spread over 37 cities all over India.

MetLife India Insurance
MetLife India Insurance Co. Pvt Ltd is a joint venture between MetLife Group and its Indian partners. The Indian partners include J&K Bank, Dhanalakshmi Bank, Karnataka Bank, Karvy Consultants, Geojit Securities, Way2Wealth, and Mini Muthoothu.

Met Life Group has presence in America and Asia and has an experience of over 137 years in providing financial services. The MetLife companies are the number one life insurer in the U.S. with approximately US $2.8 trillion of life insurance in force. MetLife serves 88 of the top one hundred FORTUNE 500 companies. MetLife entered Indian insurance sector in 2001.
Reliance Life Insurance
Reliance Life Insurance Company limited is a part of Reliance Capital Ltd. of the Reliance - Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group. The company acquired 100 per cent shareholding in AMP Sanmar Life Insurance Company in August 2005. Taking over AMP Sanmar Life provided Reliance Life Insurance a readymade infrastructure and a portfolio.
AMP Sanmar Life Insurance was a joint venture between AMP, Australia and the Sanmar Group. Headquartered in Chennai, AMP Sanmar had over 90 offices across the country, 9,000 agents, and more than 900 employees.

SBI Life Insurance
SBI Life Insurance is a joint venture between the State Bank of India and Cardif SA of France. SBI Life Insurance is registered with an authorized capital of Rs 500 crore and a paid up capital of Rs 350 crores.
State Bank of India is the largest banking franchise in India. Along with its 7 Associate Banks, SBI Group has a network of over 14,000 branches across the country, the largest in the world. Cardif is a wholly owned subsidiary of BNP Paribas, which is The Euro Zone's leading Bank. BNP is one of the oldest foreign banks with a presence in India dating back to 1860.
Shriram Life Insurance
Shriram Life Insurance Company Ltd is a joint venture between the Chennai-based Shriram Group and the South African insurance major Sanlam.
The company launched its operations in India in December 2005. Shriram Life has set a target of achieving a premium income of Rs 110 crore during the first year of operations. While focussing largely on the strong network of over 65,000 agents and distribution network of more than 550 branches, Shriram Life is also contemplating bank assurance alliances with couple of banks.

Tata AIG Life Insurance
Tata AIG Life Insurance Company Limited is a joint venture between Tata Group and American International Group, Inc. (AIG). Tata Group is one of the oldest and leading business groups of India. Tata Group has had a long association
American International Group, Inc is the leading U.S. based international insurance and financial services organization and the largest underwriter of commercial and industrial insurance in the United States. AIG has one of the most extensive life insurance networks in the world.


COMPARISION WITH WORLD

Industry Growth: -
With a large population and untapped market, insurance happens to be a big opportunity in India. The insurance business is growing at an annual rate of 21.9 per cent. Together with banking services, it accounts for about 7.1 percent to the country’s GDP. However, insurance penetration in the country is poor. Insurance penetration or premium volume as a share of a country’s GDP, for the year 2004-05 is at 2.53 per cent for Life insurance and 0.65 per cent for Non-life insurance. The level of penetration tends to rise as income increases, particularly in life insurance. India with about 200 million middle class households shows a potential for insurance industry. Saturation of markets in many developed economies has made the Indian market even more attractive for global insurance majors. The insurance sector was opened up for private participation four years ago and the private players are active in the liberalized environment. The insurance market have witnessed dynamic changes which includes presence of a fair number of insurers both life and non-life segment. Most of the private insurance companies have formed joint venture partnering well with recognized foreign players across the globe. The Indian Insurance market accounts only for 0.59 per cent of USD 2,627 billion global insurance market. Consumer awareness has improved. Competition has brought more products and better customer servicing. It has had a positive impact on the economy in terms of income generation and employment growth.

i) Life Insurance

The life insurance industry recorded a premium income of Rs.82854.80 crore during the financial year 2004-05 as against Rs.66653.75 crore in the previous financial year, recording a growth of 24.31 per cent. The contribution of first year premium, single premium and renewal premium to the total premium was Rs.15881.33 crore (19.16 per cent); Rs.10336.30 crore (12.47 per cent); and Rs.56637.16 crore (68.36 per cent), respectively. In the year 2000-01, when the industry was opened up to the private players, the life insurance premium was Rs.34,898.48 crore which constituted of Rs. 6996.95 crore of first year premium, Rs. 25191.07 crore of renewal premium and Rs. 2740.45 crore of single premium. Post opening up, single premium had declined from Rs.9194.07 crore in the year 2001-02 to Rs.5674.14 crore in 2002-03 with the withdrawal of the guaranteed return policies. Though it went up marginally in 2003-04 to Rs.5936.50 crore (4.62 per cent growth) 2004-05, however, witnessed a significant shift with the single premium income rising to Rs. 10336.30 crore showing 74.11 percent growth over 2003-04.

TABLE 3
________________________________________________________________________
PREMIUM UNDERWRITTEN BY LIFE INSURERS
________________________________________________________________________
(Rs. lakh)
Insurer 2003-04 2004-05
First year premium including
Single premium
LIC* 1734761.74 2065306.36
(6.34) (19.05)
Private Sector 244070.58 556457.34
(152.74) (127.99)
Total 1978832.32 2621763.70
(14.68) (32.49)
Renewal Premium
LIC 4618580.96 5447422.62
(19.47) (17.95)
Private Sector 67962.05 216293.48
(343.12) (218.26)
Total 4686543.01 5663716.10
(20.75) (20.85)

Total Premium
LIC 6353342.70 7512728.98
(15.63) (18.25)
Private Sector 312032.63 772750.82
(178.83) (147.65)
Total 6665375.33 8285479.80
(18.91) (24.31)
________________________________________________________________________
Note: Figures in brackets indicate the growth (in per cent)
* includes the investment component under unit linked products

The life insurance industry underwrote first year premium (inclusive of single premium) of Rs.26217.64 during 2004-05 as against Rs.19788.32 crore in 2003-04. The industry clocked a growth of 32.49 per cent driven by a significant jump in unit linked business. Interestingly, the growth in the first year premium (other than single premium) came on the policies issued by the private insurers with a growth rate of 106.46 per cent as against a negative growth exhibited by LIC at 1.25 per cent. As against this, the private insurers and
LIC reported single premium growth of 239.46 per cent and 62.32 per cent, respectively. The size of life insurance market increased on the strength of growth in the economy and concomitant increase in per capita income. This resulted in a favorable growth in total premium both for LIC (18.25 per cent) and to the new insurers (147.65 per cent) in 2004-05. The higher growth for the new insurers is to be viewed in the context of a low base in 2003-04. However, the new insurers have improved their market share from 4.68 in 2003-04 to 9.33 in 2004-05.





TABLE 4
_______________________________________________________________________
MARKET SHARE OF LIFE INSURERS
_______________________________________________________________________
(In per cent)
Insurer 2003-04 2004-05

First year premium including
Single premium
LIC 87.67 78.78
Private Sector 12.33 21.22
Total 100.00 100.00

Renewal Premium
LIC 98.55 96.18
Private Sector 1.45 3.82
Total 100.00 100.00

Total Premium
LIC 95.32 90.67
Private Sector 4.68 9.33
Total 100.00 100.00
________________________________________________________________________

Segregation of the first year premium underwritten during 2004-05 indicates that Life, Annuity, Pension and Health contributed 77.27; 6.7; 15.55 and 0.47 per cent respectively to the first year premium. As against this, 81.68; 8.62; 8.97 and 0.72 per cent was respectively underwritten in the above segments in 2003-04. There is a slow but clear shift towards pension business. New policies underwritten by the industry were 262.11 lakh during 2004-05 showing a decline of 8.44 per cent against 2003-04. Prior to this, in the year 2003-04, the number of new policies underwritten had increased to 286.27 lakh as against 253.70 lakh in 2002-03, exhibiting an increase of 12.83 per cent. While the private insurers exhibited a growth of 34.62 per cent, LIC showed a negative growth of 11.09 percent. The market share of the private insurers and LIC, in terms of policies underwritten, was 8.52 per cent and 91.48 per cent as against 5.79 per cent and 94.21 percent respectively in 2003-04.

The increase in the renewal premium is a good measure of the quality of the business underwritten by the insurers. It reflects the increase in their persistency ratio and enables insurers to bring down overall cost of doing business. The renewal premium underwritten by the private insurers during 2004-05 reflects that some of the insurers have shown a healthy growth. The average for the private insurers, examined in the context of the renewal premium to the first year premium underwritten (excluding single premium), shows an increase to 68.67 as against 61.56 in 2003-04 and a mere 32.88 in 2002-03. Analysis of the first year premium in terms of linked and non-linked premium reflects that linked products continued to rule the roost in 2004-05. LIC, the public sector insurer, too underwrote significant business in this line.

While premium underwritten under the linked categories grew by 422.19 percent, the non-linked premium was almost static with growth of just 0.028 per cent. The linked and non linked business accounted for 32.54 per cent and 67.46 per cent respectively in the year 2004-05, as against 8.46 and 91.54 per cent in 2003-04. The non-linked and linked new business premium underwritten by LIC in 2004-05 was 78.31 per cent and 21.69 percent as against 97.70 per cent and 2.29 per cent in 2003-04. In case of private insurers the percentages were 28.72 and 71.28 in 2004-05 as against 50.18 and 49.82 per cent respectively in the previous year. The data clearly reflects LIC’s decision to drive its premium growth on the strength of unit linked products. The Group business has also witnessed some churning as the market has become more competitive. This has been true for the term business also. Today Group products are offered by all the life insurers.



Innovations in the products

With the demographic changes and changing life styles, the demand for insurance cover has also evolved taking into consideration the needs of prospective policyholder for packaged products. There have been innovations in the types of products developed by the insurers, which are relevant to the people of different age groups, and suit their requirements. Continued innovations in product development has resulted in a wide range of flexible products to meet the requirements for cover at different stages of life – today a variety of products are available ranging from traditional to Unit linked providing protection towards child, endowment, capital guarantee, pension and group solutions.

A number of new products have been introduced in the life segment with guaranteed additions, which were subsequently withdrawn/toned down; single premium mode has been popularized; unit linked products; and add–on/riders including accidental death; dismemberment, critical illness, fixed term assurance risk cover, group hospital and surgical treatment, hospital cash benefits, etc. Comprehensive packaged products have been popularized with features of endowment, money back, whole life, single premium, regular premium, rebate in premium for higher sum assured, premium mode rebate, etc., together with riders to the base products.

ii) Non-life insurers

The non-life insurers underwrote a premium of Rs.10140.94 crore during the first half of the current financial year recording a growth of 15.44 per cent over Rs. 8784.77 crore underwritten in the same period of last year. The eight non-life insurers in the private sector underwrote a premium of Rs.2688.49 crore as against Rs.1681.80 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year, recording a growth of 59.86 per cent. The public sector non-life insurers including ECGC underwrote a premium of Rs.7452.44 crore, which was lower by 1.03 percent (Rs.7529.91 crore). The market share of the public insurers, and the private players was 73.49 and 26.51 percent respectively. ECGC underwrote credit insurance of Rs.274.08 crore as against Rs.240.87 crore in the previous year, a growth of 13.78 per cent. While the segment-wise break-up for public sector insurers is not available, the segment-wise performance of non-life private insurers during the six months is assessed.

The premium underwritten by the eight insurers in the Fire, Marine and Miscellaneous segments was Rs.760.27 crore, Rs.172.90 crore and Rs.1755.32 crore recording a growth of 46 per cent, 57 percent and 67 per cent, respectively over the corresponding period of the previous year. Premium underwritten by the private sector insurers in these segments during April-September, 2004 was Rs.519.47 crore, Rs.110.42 crore and Rs.1051.90 crore respectively. In terms of number of policies, the private insurers underwrote 1.67 lakh, 1.22 lakh and39.83 lakh policies in the Fire, Marine and Miscellaneous segments reporting a growth of 38.02, 90 and 95.76 per cent respectively. The policies underwritten in the corresponding period of the previous year were 1.21 lakh, 0.64 lakh and 20.09 lakh respectively. The growth in terms of policies underwritten by the private insurers was 92.43 per cent over the six-month period in 2004-05.

APPRAISAL OF INSURANCE MARKET

The insurance sector was opened up in the year 1999 facilitating the entry of private players into the industry. With an annual growth rate of 24.31 per cent and the largest number of life insurance policies in force, the potential of the Indian insurance industry is huge. The year 1999 saw a revolution in the Indian insurance sector, as major structural changes took place with the ending of government monopoly and the passage of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) Bill, lifting entry restrictions for private players and allowing foreign players to enter the market with some limits on direct foreign ownership. According to CSO, the insurance and banking services’ contribution to the country’s GDP is 7.1 per cent out of which the gross premium collection forms a significant part. Life insurance penetration in India was less than 1 per cent till 1990-91. During the ‘90s, it was between 1 and 2 per cent and from 2001 it was over 2 per cent. In 2003-04 it was 2.4 per cent. The impetus for increase is due to the active role played by IRDA in licensing private players and taking positive steps in increasing the insurance awareness among the people. Besides, the insurance companies in general and private insurance companies in particular, are reaching to so far untapped potential in rural areas with aggressive campaign by offering suitable products.
The penetration rates of health and other non-life insurances in India is also well below the international level. These facts indicate immense growth potential of the insurance sector. The hike in FDI limit to 49 per cent was proposed by the Government last year. This has not been operationalised as legislative changes are required for such hike. Since opening up of the insurance sector in 1999, foreign investments of Rs. 8.7 billion have poured into the Indian market and 21 private companies have been granted licenses. Innovative products, smart marketing, and aggressive distribution have enabled fledgling private insurance companies to sign up Indian customers faster than anyone expected. Life insurance is viewed as a tax saving device.
People are now turning to the private sectors that are providing them with new products and variety for their choice. With the registration of Sahara Life Insurance Company Ltd., the number of companies operating in the life insurance industry has increased to fourteen. The new entrant commenced underwriting life premium during the financial year 2004-05, although to a comparatively slow start. Sahara Life is the first life insurance Company in the private sector, which has set up operations in the country without participation of a foreign joint venture partner. The company issued 10,195 policies with total premium income of Rs.1.74 crore. There are currently fourteen life and fourteen non-life insurance companies, out of non-life insurance companies, two are specialized Insurance companies viz. Agricultural Insurance Company, which handles Crop Insurance business and Export Credit Guarantee Corporation which only transacts Export Credit Insurance.
Numbers of registered insurers in India; -

Type of business
Public sector
Private sector
Total
Life Insurance
General Insurance
Re insurance
1
6
1
13
8
0
14
14
1
Total
8
21
29




Capital requirement and foreign participation

The improvement in FDI flows reflected the impact of recent initiatives aimed at creating an enabling environment for FDI and for encouraging infusion of new technologies and management practices. The decision to hike sect oral caps on FDI in telecom from 49 per cent to 74 per cent and in air transport services from 40 per cent to 49 per cent buoyed investors’ interest in these sectors. The Government’s proposal to increase the FDI cap in the insurance sector from the present 26 per cent to 49 per cent has raised expectations among the international insurance companies. India has a favorable market which is growing fast.





















_____________________________________________________________________________
EQUITY SHARE CAPITAL OF INSURANCE COMPANIES
_____________________________________________________________________________
(Rs. Crore)

Name of the insurer 2003-04 2004-05 Foreign Indian FDI (%) Promoter Promoter

Life Insurers
HDFC Standard 255.50 320.00 47.52 272.48 14.90
ICICI-Prudential 675.00 925.00 240.50 684.50 26.00
Max New York 346.08 466.08 121.18 344.90 26.00
Kotak Mahindra 151.26 211.76 55.06 156.70 26.00
Birla Sun Life 290.00 350.00 91.00 259.00 26.00
TATA-AIG 231.00 321.00 83.46 237.54 26.00
SBI Life 175.00 350.00 91.00 259.00 26.00
ING Vysya 245.00 325.00 84.50 240.50 26.00
Met life India 160.00 235.00 61.10 173.90 26.00
Bajaj Allianz 150.07 150.07 39.02 111.05 26.00
AMP Sanmar 160.00 217.10 56.45 160.65 26.00
AVIVA 242.80 319.80 83.15 236.65 26.00
Sahara India 157.00 157.00 0.00 157.00 0.00
Sub Total 3238.71 4347.81 1053.93 3293.88 -

L I C 5.00 5.00 - 5.00 -

Total (Life) 3243.71 4352.81 ` 1053.93 3298.88 -

Non-life insurers

Royal Sundaram Alliance130.00 130.00 33.80 96.20 26.00
Reliance General 102.00 102.00 0.00 102.00 0.00
Bajaj Allianz General 110.00 110.00 28.60 81.40 26.00
IFFCO-TOKIO General 100.00 100.00 26.00 74.00 26.00
TATA AIG General 125.00 125.00 32.50 92.50 26.00
ICICI Lombard General 220.00 220.00 57.20 162.80 26.00
HDFC Chubb General 120.00 120.00 31.20 88.80 26.00
Cholamandalam MS 141.96 141.96 36.91 105.05 26.00
Sub Total 1048.96 1048.96 246.21 802.75 -

United India Insurance 100.00 100.00 - 100.00 -
The New India Assur. 100.00 150.00 - 150.00 -
The Oriental Insurance 100.00 100.00 - 100.00 -
National Insurance 100.00 100.00 - 100.00 -

Sub-Total 400.00 450.00 - 450.00 -

Total (Non-life) 1448.96 1498.96 246.21 1252.75 -

E. C. G. Corporation 500.00 600.00 - 600.00 -
A. I. C. of India 200.00 200.00 - 200.00 -
G I C 215.00 215.00 - 215.00 -

GRAND TOTAL 5607.67 6866.77 1300.14 5566.63 -


World Insurance Scenario
In 2004 insurers succeeded in combining revenue growth with higher profitability and a stronger capital base than in the previous two years. Investment banks and rating agencies acknowledged these developments and positively changed their outlook on the insurance industry. Year 2004 featured several changes in the overall insurance framework. Total world premium in nominal terms remained at the same level as in 2003 and increased by 2.3 per cent in real terms in 2004. Life and non-life business showed opposite trends. While growth gained momentum in life segment, the non-life segment showed otherwise. India is getting increasingly integrated with the world economy and has large and growing market potential, developed infrastructure, sophisticated financial sector, stable polity and strong economic outlook. These features make India as an attractive destination. In 2004, regional shares in the global premium volume shifted slightly. Regional differences in economic growth and tax regulations were important drivers of such differences. Europe gained 1.9 percentage points through life insurance, while North America and Asia lost 1.8 per cent and 0.5 percent respectively mainly due to sluggish demand for life insurance in the US and Japan, the dominating markets in those regions. As integrated risk management approach has gained ground within large corporate, this may result in a less cyclical captive market.


















________________________________________________________________
INTERNATIONAL COMPARISON OF INSURANCE PENETRATION*
_____________________________________________________________________________

Continent/Country 2002** 2003* * 2004**
Total Life Non-Life Total Life Non-Life Total Life Non-Life
North America 9.39 4.48 4.90 9.40 4.25 5.15 9.17 4.12 5.05
United States 9.58 4.60 4.98 9.61 4.38 5.23 9.36 4.22 5.14
Canada 6.69 2.81 3.88 6.82 2.63 4.19 7.02 2.97 4.05
L.America&Caribbean 2.39 0.92 1.47 2.45 0.94 1.51 2.47 1.01 1.46
Bahamas 8.81 4.84 3.97 7.98 4.38 3.60 N/A N/A N/A
Barbados 8.86 2.78 6.08 11.29 3.87 7.42 N/A N/A N/A
Trinidad and Tobago 5.02 3.42 1.60 5.11 3.49 1.63 7.85 5.77 2.08
Chile 4.04 2.53 1.52 4.09 2.61 1.47 3.93 2.55 1.38
Jamaica 5.57 2.35 3.22 5.56 2.35 3.21 5.00 1.88 3.11
Panama 3.34 1.17 2.17 3.64 1.19 2.45 3.07 1.12 1.96
Honduras 2.81 0.72 2.09 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
Argentina 2.35 0.73 1.61 2.54 0.72 1.82 2.68 0.88 1.80
Colombia 2.62 0.68 1.94 2.56 0.70 1.86 2.51 0.69 1.82
Venezuela 2.06 0.06 2.00 2.89 0.09 2.80 2.55 0.08 2.47
Dominican Republic 2.42 0.20 2.22 2.43 0.20 2.23 2.05 0.18 1.86
Brazil 2.79 1.05 1.74 2.96 1.28 1.68 2.98 1.36 1.63
Costa Rica 2.03 0.08 1.95 1.88 0.17 1.72 1.87 0.15 1.72
Uruguay 2.45 0.54 1.91 2.16 0.48 1.68 N/A N/A N/A
El Salvador 2.28 0.67 1.61 2.35 0.70 1.66 2.28 0.68 1.60
Mexico 2.01 0.94 1.07 1.80 0.70 1.10 1.86 0.79 1.06
Ecuador 1.54 0.18 1.37 1.72 0.17 1.54 1.68 0.20 1.48
Peru 1.19 0.41 0.78 1.44 0.60 0.83 1.31 0.59 0.72
Guatemala 1.15 0.20 0.96 1.12 0.20 0.92 1.09 0.17 0.92
Europe 8.06 4.83 3.22 7.98 4.64 3.35 7.89 4.68 3.20
United Kingdom 14.75 10.19 4.56 13.37 8.62 4.75 12.60 8.92 3.68
Switzerland 13.36 8.41 4.95 12.74 7.72 5.02 11.75 6.73 5.02
Netherlands 9.51 4.98 4.52 9.77 4.93 4.84 10.10 5.43 4.67
Ireland 8.55 5.42 3.14 9.59 6.04 3.55 8.97 5.74 3.23
Finland 8.98 6.98 2.00 8.69 6.81 1.88 8.77 6.89 1.88
France 8.58 5.61 2.97 9.15 5.99 3.15 9.52 6.38 3.14
Belgium 8.42 5.57 2.86 9.77 6.81 2.96 9.62 6.73 2.89
Sweden 6.62 4.55 2.07 6.97 4.74 2.23 6.96 4.56 2.39
Denmark 7.52 4.84 2.68 7.92 5.18 2.74 8.07 5.15 2.92
Germany 6.76 3.06 3.70 6.99 3.17 3.82 6.97 3.11 3.86
Italy 6.97 4.39 2.58 7.45 4.82 2.63 7.60 4.86 2.74
Spain 6.77 3.65 3.12 5.58 2.38 3.20 5.63 2.38 3.25
Austria 5.84 2.61 3.23 5.89 2.59 3.30 5.95 2.63 3.32
Portugal 6.60 3.46 3.14 7.31 4.14 3.17 7.85 4.66 3.19
Slovenia 5.05 1.15 3.91 5.23 1.25 3.98 5.61 1.65 3.96
Cyprus 4.57 2.39 2.18 4.57 2.29 2.28 4.39 2.31 2.08
Norway 4.53 2.57 1.96 4.89 2.79 2.10 5.20 3.14 2.06
Malta 4.66 2.14 2.52 5.04 2.52 2.52 5.61 2.84 2.78
Czech Republic 3.99 1.50 2.49 4.48 1.72 2.76 4.15 1.63 2.53
Luxembourg 4.02 1.75 2.28 4.49 2.09 2.40 3.64 1.43 2.21
Slovakia 3.38 1.46 1.92 3.38 1.38 2.00 3.61 1.46 2.15
Iceland 3.30 0.29 3.01 3.23 0.29 2.94 3.01 0.29 2.72
Poland 2.96 1.04 1.92 3.02 1.12 1.91 3.07 1.17 1.90
Russia 2.77 0.96 1.81 3.25 1.12 2.13 2.83 0.61 2.21
Croatia 3.16 0.65 2.51 3.25 0.72 2.53 3.20 0.76 2.44
Hungary 2.88 1.18 1.70 3.01 1.20 1.80 2.83 1.15 1.67
Yugoslavia N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
Greece 2.05 0.94 1.11 2.10 0.93 1.17 2.10 0.93 1.17
Bulgaria 1.90 0.44 1.47 1.90 0.21 1.69 1.92 0.26 1.65
Ukraine 2.01 0.01 2.00 3.54 0.03 3.52 4.82 0.05 4.77
Turkey 1.31 0.24 1.07 1.35 0.24 1.12 1.54 0.29 1.25
Romania 1.09 0.27 0.81 1.45 0.34 1.11 1.51 0.35 1.15
Serbia and Montenegro 2.24 0.03 2.22 2.25 0.08 2.17 2.20 0.16 2.04
Latvia 1.91 0.08 1.83 2.06 0.09 1.97 N/A N/A N/A
Lithuania 1.46 0.28 1.19 1.51 0.40 1.11 1.48 0.38 1.10
Asia 7.61 5.81 1.80 7.51 5.74 1.77 7.37 5.58 1.79
South Korea 11.61 8.23 3.38 9.63 6.77 2.86 9.52 6.75 2.77
Japan 10.86 8.64 2.22 10.81 8.61 2.20 10.51 8.26 2.25
Tiwan 10.16 7.35 2.81 11.31 8.28 3.02 14.13 11.06 3.07
Hong Kong 6.65 5.20 1.45 7.88 6.38 1.50 9.27 7.88 1.39
Israel 6.28 2.94 3.34 6.54 2.90 3.65 6.16 2.76 3.40
Malaysia 4.91 2.94 1.97 5.35 3.29 2.05 5.40 3.52 1.88
Singapore 4.91 3.48 1.43 7.59 6.09 1.50 7.50 6.02 1.48
Thailand 3.24 2.09 1.15 3.45 2.25 1.19 3.52 1.94 1.58
India 3.26 2.59 0.67 2.88 2.26 0.62 3.17 2.53 0.65
Lebanon 2.78 0.56 2.22 2.91 0.78 2.13 3.06 0.95 2.10
PR China 2.98 2.03 0.96 3.33 2.30 1.03 3.26 2.21 1.05
Bahrain 2.08 0.46 1.62 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
Jordan 2.23 0.28 1.95 2.22 0.28 1.94 2.67 0.31 2.36
Phillipines 1.48 0.87 0.61 1.48 0.87 0.61 1.49 0.91 0.59
UAE 1.28 0.30 0.98 1.12 0.26 0.86 1.65 0.28 1.37
Sri Lanka 1.30 0.55 0.74 1.30 0.55 0.74 1.37 0.60 0.77
Indonesia 1.49 0.66 0.83 1.49 0.66 0.83 1.31 0.63 0.68
Oman 1.01 0.18 0.83 1.24 0.17 1.06 1.28 0.18 1.10
Vietnam 1.45 0.87 0.57 1.45 0.87 0.57 2.02 1.35 0.68
Iran 1.16 0.11 1.04 1.16 0.09 1.07 1.15 0.09 1.06
Kuwait 0.95 0.23 0.72 0.92 0.23 0.69 0.93 0.22 0.70
Pakistan 0.62 0.24 0.39 0.62 0.24 0.39 0.71 0.28 0.43
Saudia Arabia 0.48 0.02 0.46 0.47 0.02 0.45 0.48 0.02 0.46
Bangladesh 0.46 0.29 0.18 0.57 0.37 0.20 0.57 0.37 0.20
Africa 4.45 3.28 1.17 4.09 2.93 1.16 4.89 3.41 1.48
South Africa 18.78 15.92 2.86 15.88 12.96 2.92 14.38 11.43 2.95
Mauritius 4.32 2.62 1.70 4.59 2.78 1.81 4.61 2.78 1.83
Zimbabwe 4.08 2.35 1.73 4.17 2.40 1.77 N/A N/A N/A
Morocco 3.00 0.99 2.01 2.85 0.80 2.05 2.70 0.64 2.06
Kenya 3.09 0.81 2.28 2.98 0.78 2.20 2.81 0.82 1.99
Ivory Coast 1.38 0.45 0.93 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
Tunisia 1.80 0.15 1.65 1.82 0.16 1.66 2.01 0.16 1.86
Nigeria 0.62 0.11 0.51 0.77 0.14 0.63 0.94 0.17 0.76
Egypt 0.59 0.18 0.41 0.68 0.22 0.47 0.79 0.27 0.52
Algeria 0.65 0.03 0.63 0.64 0.02 0.61 0.58 0.03 0.55
Oceania 8.05 4.48 3.57 7.70 3.99 3.71 7.65 3.75 3.90
Australia 8.48 5.02 3.46 7.99 4.42 3.57 8.02 4.17 3.85
New Zealand 6.19 1.41 4.78 6.23 1.39 4.83 5.74 1.32 4.42
World 8.14 4.76 3.38 8.06 4.59 3.48 7.99 4.55 3.43
________________________________________________________________________________________________

* Insurance penetration is measured as ratio (in Per Cent) of premium to GDP
** Data relates to Calendar years



______________________________________________________________________________________
INTERNATIONAL COMPARISON OF INSURANCE DENSITY*
________________________________________________________________________

Continent/Country 2002** 2003** 2004**

Total Life NonLife Total Life NonLife Total Life NonLife

North America 3275.0 1563.8 1711.2 3464.3 1565.7 1898.6 3601.1 1617.2 1984.0
United States 3461.6 1662.6 1799.0 3637.7 1657.5 1980.2 3755.1 1692.5 2062.6
Canada 1563.2 657.3 905.8 1871.8 722.9 1148.9 2188.7 926.1 1262.6
L. Ame. & carib. 75.5 29.1 46.4 78.3 30.0 48.2 90.9 37.2 53.7
Bahamas 1248.6 685.5 563.1 1274.1 699.5 574.6 N/A N/A N/A
Barbados 820.2 257.0 563.2 1064.1 364.6 699.6 N/A N/A N/A
Trinidad and Tobago 381.6 260.3 121.4 383.9 261.8 122.1 659.3 484.5 174.8
Chile 165.6 103.5 62.1 216.3 138.3 78.0 253.1 164.5 88.6
Jamaica 171.1 72.3 98.8 155.1 65.6 89.5 161.6 60.8 100.7
Panama 127.3 44.6 82.7 129.7 42.4 87.3 139.3 50.6 88.7
Honduras 28.2 7.2 21.0 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
Argentina 62.9 19.7 43.2 85.9 24.2 61.7 105.1 34.5 70.6
Colombia 48.3 12.5 35.8 45.1 12.4 32.7 51.9 14.3 37.6
Venezuela 81.3 2.5 78.8 84.5 2.5 82.0 101.1 3.1 98.0
Dominican Republic 60.4 4.9 55.5 45.7 3.7 42.0 41.3 3.7 37.6
Brazil 72.2 27.2 45.0 82.6 35.8 46.8 101.1 45.9 55.2
Costa Rica 86.7 3.3 83.4 79.1 7.0 72.0 85.7 6.8 78.8
Uruguay 80.8 17.8 63.0 69.9 15.4 54.5 N/A N/A N/A
El Salvador 49.7 14.5 35.2 52.7 15.6 37.1 52.7 15.8 36.9
Mexico 126.7 59.2 67.5 106.5 41.3 65.3 117.8 50.2 67.6
Ecuador 23.7 2.7 21.0 34.4 3.5 30.9 37.1 4.5 32.6
Peru 25.3 8.7 16.6 32.1 13.5 18.7 32.1 14.5 17.5
Guatemala 21.6 3.7 17.9 22.0 3.9 18.1 23.0 3.5 19.5
Europe 1034.4 620.4 414.0 1251.8 726.9 524.9 1427.9 848.1 579.8
United Kingdom 3879.1 2679.4 1199.7 4058.5 2617.1 1441.4 4508.4 3190.4 1318.0
Switzerland 4922.4 3099.7 1822.6 5660.3 3431.8 2228.5 5716.4 3275.1 2441.2
Netherlands 2472.4 1296.1 1176.3 3094.0 1561.7 1532.4 3599.6 1936.5 1663.1
Ireland 2703.0 1712.2 990.7 3669.5 2312.5 1356.9 4091.2 2617.4 1473.8
Finland 2272.1 1765.3 506.8 2714.5 2126.8 587.7 3134.1 2461.0 673.1
France 2064.2 1349.5 714.7 2698.3 1767.9 930.5 3207.9 2150.2 1057.7
Belgium 2002.9 1323.6 679.3 2875.7 2004.8 870.9 3275.6 2291.2 984.4
Sweden 1792.7 1232.2 560.5 2357.9 1602.3 755.6 2690.0 1764.3 925.7
Denmark 2448.3 1574.9 873.4 3116.0 2037.5 1078.5 3620.4 2310.5 1309.9
Germany 1627.7 736.7 891.1 2051.2 930.4 1120.8 2286.6 1021.3 1265.3
Italy 1435.4 904.9 530.5 1913.1 1238.3 674.8 2217.9 1417.2 800.7
Spain 1091.5 588.0 503.5 1146.1 488.6 657.5 1355.2 571.9 783.3
Austria 1452.1 648.7 803.4 1846.8 811.0 1035.7 2159.7 955.3 1204.4
Portugal 799.4 418.6 380.8 1079.6 611.4 468.2 1293.5 768.1 525.4
Slovenia 557.0 126.4 430.6 725.8 173.6 552.1 919.6 270.0 649.5
Cyprus 603.9 315.8 288.1 765.4 383.0 382.3 861.5 453.3 408.2
Norway 1939.0 1101.0 830.8 2321.3 1322.5 998.8 2842.2 1714.4 1127.8
Malta 457.7 210.3 247.4 589.2 294.7 294.5 728.6 368.2 360.4
Czech Republic 272.6 102.6 170.0 363.4 139.4 224.0 430.5 168.6 261.9
Luxembourg 1934.3 840.0 1094.3 2496.0 1161.1 1335.0 2562.9 1007.1 1555.8
Slovakia 148.8 64.3 84.5 210.6 85.8 124.8 276.0 111.8 164.2
Iceland 978.7 87.0 891.7 1205.6 108.1 1097.5 1310.2 126.9 1183.3
Poland 144.5 50.7 93.8 162.2 59.9 102.3 192.7 73.3 119.4
Russia 66.6 23.1 43.5 98.2 33.9 64.3 114.4 24.8 89.6
Croatia 160.7 33.2 127.5 207.9 46.3 161.6 247.9 58.7 189.2
Hungary 186.9 76.7 110.2 247.8 99.1 148.7 287.3 117.3 170.0
Yugoslavia N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
Greece 253.1 116.0 137.2 342.8 152.1 190.7 402.1 177.9 224.1
Bulgaria 43.1 9.9 33.1 49.2 5.5 43.7 59.4 8.2 51.2
Ukraine 17.1 0.1 17.0 35.4 0.3 35.1 60.9 0.6 60.3
Turkey 35.0 6.5 28.5 47.7 8.4 39.3 64.5 12.0 52.6
Romania 22.3 5.6 16.7 35.8 8.4 27.3 48.2 11.3 36.9
Serbia and Montenegro 33.0 0.4 32.6 40.8 1.4 39.4 44.7 3.2 41.5
Latvia 68.5 2.9 65.6 90.1 4.0 86.1 N/A N/A N/A
Lithuania 57.9 10.9 47.0 76.6 20.1 56.4 95.7 24.6 71.1
Asia 167.8 128.1 39.7 183.4 140.1 43.3 194.3 147.2 47.1
South Korea 1159.8 821.9 337.8 1243.0 873.6 369.4 1419.3 1006.8 412.5
Japan 3498.6 2783.9 714.7 3770.9 3002.9 768.0 3874.8 3044.0 830.8
Tiwan 1279.2 925.1 354.1 1433.3 1050.1 383.2 1909.0 1494.6 414.4
Hong Kong 1583.0 1237.9 345.2 1832.6 1483.9 348.7 2217.2 1884.3 332.9
Israel 981.1 459.3 521.8 1040.6 460.8 579.8 1043.4 467.4 576.0
Malaysia 198.0 118.7 79.3 227.0 139.8 87.2 256.5 167.3 89.3
Singapore 1030.7 730.1 300.6 1620.5 1300.2 320.3 1849.3 1483.9 365.5
Thailand 65.2 42.1 23.1 79.6 52.0 27.6 92.1 50.8 41.4
India 14.7 11.7 3.0 16.4 12.9 3.5 19.7 15.7 4.0
Lebanon 116.1 23.2 92.9 115.6 31.0 84.7 126.7 39.6 87.2
PR China 28.7 19.5 9.2 36.3 25.1 11.2 40.2 27.3 12.9
Bahrain 295.2 65.3 229.9 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
Jordan 40.1 5.1 35.1 41.4 5.2 36.2 52.1 6.0 46.2
Phillipines 14.7 8.7 6.1 14.6 8.6 6.0 15.6 9.4 6.1
UAE 317.0 74.0 243.1 310.7 72.5 238.2 350.2 59.7 290.6
Sri Lanka 10.6 4.5 6.1 12.5 5.3 7.1 14.1 6.2 7.9
Indonesia 11.9 5.2 6.6 14.5 6.4 8.1 15.5 7.5 8.1
Oman 84.0 14.8 69.3 99.0 13.8 85.2 103.1 14.2 88.9
Vietnam 6.3 3.8 2.5 6.7 4.1 2.7 11.0 7.3 3.7
Iran 15.7 1.5 14.1 22.3 1.7 20.5 27.9 2.3 25.7
Kuwait 154.1 36.8 117.3 148.0 36.9 111.1 161.2 39.1 122.2
Pakistan 2.7 1.0 1.7 2.9 1.1 1.8 3.7 1.5 2.2
Saudia Arabia 41.6 1.7 39.9 41.2 1.7 39.5 51.4 2.1 49.3
Bangladesh 1.6 1.0 0.6 2.1 1.4 0.7 2.3 1.5 0.8
Africa 29.2 21.5 7.7 36.4 26.1 10.3 43.4 30.3 13.1
South Africa 425.3 360.5 64.8 583.9 476.5 107.4 686.5 545.5 141.0
Mauritius 171.0 103.7 67.4 196.5 119.1 77.4 220.8 133.1 87.7
Zimbabwe 13.5 7.8 5.7 37.2 21.4 15.8 N/A N/A N/A
Morocco 37.0 12.2 24.8 42.8 12.0 30.8 44.9 10.6 34.3
Kenya 11.6 3.0 8.5 12.9 3.4 9.5 12.6 3.7 8.9
Ivory Coast 9.7 3.2 6.5 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
Tunisia 38.8 3.2 35.5 45.9 4.0 42.0 55.3 4.3 51.0
Nigeria 2.5 0.5 2.1 3.0 0.6 2.5 4.0 0.7 3.3
Egypt 7.8 2.4 5.4 8.4 2.7 5.7 8.9 3.1 5.8
Algeria 11.7 0.5 11.2 12.5 0.5 12.0 14.8 0.8 14.0
Oceania 1201.8 668.7 533.1 1449.3 750.7 698.5 1736.9 851.0 885.9
Australia 1705.9 1010.4 695.6 2041.4 1129.3 912.1 2471.4 1285.1 1186.3
New Zealand 926.2 211.1 715.1 1215.1 272.0 943.1 1382.2 318.0 1064.2
World 422.9 247.3 175.6 469.6 267.1 202.5 511.5 291.5 220.0

* Insurance density is measured as ratio (in Per Cent) of premium to total population
** Data relates to Calendar years
CONCLUSION

Sustainable growth in the insurance industry is possible in an environment which values and promotes financial stability, increased management capability and total public accountability. . The IRDA has issued many regulations in the business conduct of the insurance companies so as to promote growth of insurance business in India without disturbing the financial stability. The growth was observed not only in the number of insurance companies but also in the premium collected. A similar increase was also observed in the insurance penetration. Considering the improvements, it is now time to consolidate and review some of the regulations with the changing scenario of global integration, high growth in domestic products caused by increased contribution from the services sector, interest of FIIs in the Indian markets and the operations of financial conglomerates. The IRDA regulatory role now is being turned towards watching market practices and a strong supervisory. The IRDA believes in putting in regulations only after an open and transparent practice of prior consultation with stakeholders

For any industry to grew it is necessary that there should be many innovative products available to the consumers which are affordable by the consumer at appropriate prices suitable to their needs. The IRDA are able to bring such a competition among the insurance companies operating in India. As of now there are many products that are available which are tailor-made to different segments of the population. These innovations to some extent have brought in shifts in the market share between the public sector and private sector companies. The stability and robustness of the insurance industry depends not only on the selection of sound players to enter the market but also in ensuring that they remain financially sound throughout their operations. As the Authority is committed to safeguarding the policyholders’ interest, the Authority has put in place stringent solvency requirements.
Agency force should be properly equipped as in future the insurance products will no longer be simple but more complex. The agents therefore should be able to understand the complexity to assess the requirement of the populace and then only advice on the appropriate policy which suits to the needs of the population. IRDA is in close contact with the Insurance Institute of India for streamlining the examination system as instances have been noticed where the sanctity of the examination process was sought to be compromised by a few interested parties.
Another area of concern is the low penetration of health insurance in India. The concerted efforts by the IRDA in constituting Working Group on Health Insurance to look into various issues regarding improving the health insurance in India together with collection of data for underwriting purposes and tracing the claim histories are yielding results