Rituparna Chatterjee – Mumbai
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Sanjay Datta
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Outbound travel from India continues to be a strong market segment for ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company, a private sector general insurance company in India also specialising in travel insurance products. This market segment continues to be their strength because of the increasing foreign travel from India and its expected upward growth in future. “Travel insurance penetration in India is currently estimated at just around 20 per cent. Though the total number of Indians who travelled abroad were just one per cent of the total population last year, their percentage is expected to increase six fold in the next 20 years,” stated Sanjay Datta, chief – underwriting and claims, ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company. He also asserted that the growth in outbound travel will be pronounced amongst business travellers and those visiting friends and relatives. In addition, with improved air connectivity, cheaper fares and availability of a range of tourism products and holiday packages, there will be an expected increase in the demand for international holidays among Indians.
Furthermore, currency fluctuation also plays a decisive role in determining the growth of overseas travel. Also, regulatory requirements with respect to mandating travel insurance for visa purpose will also create a larger sustainable pool, he stated. “We also hope that with India opening up inbound foreign travel with visa on arrival we will see a lot of tourist friendly countries reciprocating and hence increasing outbound foreign travel,” opined Datta.
To tap this growing demand for international travel in India, the general insurance company had launched the International Travel Insurance product to provide overseas medical insurance along with coverage for all trip related risks for international travellers and their family members. They had also introduced new covers such as political risk and catastrophe evacuation, compassionate visit, emergency hotel extension, Loss of baggage and personal effects (non checked-in baggage), return of minor children, etc; along with value added services which includes medical concierge services, automotive assistance and lifestyle services.
