Rituparna Chatterjee – Mumbai
Bharti AXA General Insurance recently forayed into the travel insurance market in India by launching SmartTraveller, an international travel insurance policy for individuals, families and students. The policy, which was already present in other international markets was recently introduced in India, offers two plans. The first plan caters to individuals and families through a variant, Annual Multi Trip International travel insurance plan and covers geographies including USA and Canada, Schengen (enlistment under way); Asia excluding Japan and worldwide including Japan. While the second plan is for students in the age group of 16 to 40 years and covers USA and Canada and rest of the world. The travel insurance policy can be purchased through the company’s website – www.bharti-axagi.co.in and a mobile application is being developed for the same.
Elaborating on the launch, Milind Chalisgaonkar, interim CEO and MD, Bharti AXA General Insurance stated, “The distinguishing factor of our policy is that the most basic version of our travel insurance products offers 11 or more benefits that equip travellers to manage nearly any problem they may face. Additionally, our partnership with AXA Assistance ensures that we provide seamless end-to-end claims assistance globally.” Sharing her views, Rachna Sethi, CEO, AXA Assistance India said, “We manage over 30 global 24*7 alarm centres. One of such alarm centre is located in Delhi. This means that we are all the more equipped to render services to our Indian clients in their local language.” The company is currently looking at tying-up with travel agents, visa processors, corporate brokers, websites, among others to create product awareness and penetrate into the India market.
In 2014, the travel insurance market in India was pegged at Rs 450 crore thereby growing at a rate of 15-20 per cent year-on-year. Sharing his views, Chalisgaonkar opined, “Bharti AXA General Insurance presently enjoys a 4.2 per cent market share in the general insurance category. We are new to the travel insurance market and in the coming future we aim to be among the top five companies.”
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