Awareness about life insurance increases, people now taking life insurance at the age of 30, earlier used to take it at the age of 40
Winning Bizness Desk
Mumbai. There was an era when common people of the country used to be reluctant to buy life insurance products. But the Covid-19 pandemic, which has till now affected over 4.30 crore people in India and recorded over 5 lakh deaths in the country, has pushed several citizens to buy health and term insurance, a recent survey has found out. The survey, conducted by leading insurance provider Policybazaar has also revealed the growing level of propensity to buy insurance in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities in India, hence indicating a sense of urgency spurred by the pandemic with respect to insurance awareness across the country. The survey was conducted to find out changing consumer sentiment towards insurance purchase, household finances and investments over the last two years of the pandemic.
“At 89%, the highest number of respondents willing to renew their health cover belong to tier-2 cities, as compared to 77% from tier-1. Similar trends were observed in term insurance, where 59% of respondents who want to increase their coverage belong to tier-3 cities, as compared to 26% from tier-1 cities. The survey results clearly point towards the sense of urgency spurred by the pandemic with respect to insurance awareness across the country," noted Policybazaar in the online survey that saw 5,000 participants.
The major changes in the life insurance industry
The importance of life insurance has increased tremendously. It was considered a push product, but now people are coming forward and buying life insurance. Earlier, most people used to take life insurance at the age of 38-40, but now its average age has come down to 30. The youth of 24-25 years are also buying the policy as soon as they get a job or get married. There has also been an awareness among people about securing their life goals. Among all the sectors, growth was seen in the insurance industry even during Corona.
Are the jobs of agents at risk due to digitization?
No way. To buy insurance, you need someone to explain. The advantage of digitization is that agents are now becoming tech savvy. The job of agents has become easier and they can now work from anywhere. As the demand for insurance is increasing, so are the jobs. We had recruited 36,000 agents last year. This year also about 10,000 more will be recruited. Recruitment is happening all over the industry.
