ONLINE INSURANCE TO GET BOOST

The insurance industry expects online sales to grow by around 20 times to Rs 15,000 crore by 2020, according to a study. "Digitalisation influence is quite high in the country with the Internet access is growing at a phenomenal pace and rising smart phone penetration. We are expecting sales in the insurance sector to grow by 20 times to Rs 15,000 crore by 2020 through the digital medium," Boston Consulting Group Principal Amit Kumar told PTI, explaining the 'Insurance @Digital -20X by 2020' report. Online insurance sales market in India would be around Rs 3,500-Rs 6,000 crore for life insurance and Rs 11,000-Rs 15,000 crore for non-life insurance, the report said. The online insurance market is now is over Rs 700 crore, in which life insurance sales contributed Rs 300 crore, motor insurance around Rs 250 crore and other segments like health and travel make up for about Rs 150 crore. Even though online purchases are a small component of commercial activity today, it is growing rapidly, the report said, adding that the impact of digital sales would be felt beyond just online sales. It has been estimated that by 2020, three in every four insurance policies would be influenced by digital channels during either the pre-purchase stage, purchase or renewal stages, the report said. In insurance, term life plans and travel insurance have already picked up substantially in the last few years, the report said. The report explained that Google's Consumer Barometer 2013 showed that since 2008 search queries for motor insurance has grown six times, that of health insurance has grown by 4.5 times and life insurance queries have grown by 4.5 times.