Marsh is India’s largest employee health and benefits broker, covering over five million lives through our corporate clients.
Marsh India Insurance Brokers expects a 25% year-over-year increase in premiums placed at around Rs 11,100 crore for corporate clients in the current calendar year (2021), the country chief said and CEO Sanjay Kedia. In an interview with Mithun Dasgupta, Kedia said that employee health and benefits or health insurance will continue to be the main growth engine for the company. Extracts:
What was the amount of the premium placed for the year 2020? What has been the growth year over year? What year-on-year growth is expected for 2021?
In 2020 (January-December), we placed premiums of around Rs 8,900 crore for our corporate clients, which is a 20% increase over the previous year, mainly thanks to health insurance policies of group. In the current calendar year (2021) we are forecasting a 25% increase in placed bonuses to around Rs 11,100 crore. Also for next year (2022), we expect a more than 20% year-over-year jump in placed premium.
The employee health and benefits segment is the main growth driver for Marsh India. Do you expect a change in this lineup in the future?
Marsh is India’s largest employee health and benefits broker, covering over five million lives through our corporate clients. Employee health and benefits or health insurance will continue to be Marsh India’s main growth driver. In today’s landscape, we see employers looking to move from a defined benefit model to a defined contribution model offering a range of insured and uninsured benefits to meet unique needs through choice and flexibility. The flexible benefits solution will accentuate organizations’ focus on affordability, differentiation, innovation, adaptability and long-term sustainability. Thus, the demand for health insurance coverages and other evolving benefits will continue to increase in the years to come.
Mental health is emerging as one of the biggest risk issues for businesses after COVID-19. Do you see any companies incorporating mental health coverage into Group Medical Coverage (GMC) plans?
Yes, there is a recovery in demand and we are seeing an increase in the demands and uptake of such covers, especially since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. We have seen progressive organizations having OPD (Out-patient department) coverage of between Rs 20,000 and Rs 50,000 per family covering consultations, therapy, pharmacy and diagnostics.
Were the revised trade credit insurance guidelines necessary? How big is the credit insurance market today? How does he expect it to develop after these revised guidelines?
The revised trade credit insurance guidelines, IRDAI (Trade Credit Insurance) Guidelines, 2021, are a positive step. This will help vendors as well as authorized banks and other financial institutions obtain insurance protection that will help them manage country risk, open access to new markets, and manage the risk of non-payment associated with the portfolio. trade finance. This decision to support factoring activities with insurance coverages will release huge amounts in the balance sheet as trade receivables of companies, especially for the SME / MSME sector. Businesses will now be able to free up capital and invest in businesses because a trade credit insurance policy will allow them to monetize trade receivables.
This was a necessary reform aimed at providing trade finance facilities to all enterprises, especially the SME and MSME segments. This segment has always been deprived of the reach of banks or NBFCs. For most businesses, accounts receivable (AR) are the largest portion of assets, which in the absence of trade finance insurance they have not been able to monetize.
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