And finally, a portal on insurance!

NEW DELHI: The Rs 10 crore Integra Capital has launched a portal of a different kind, actually a vortal, on insurance. Assureindia.com seeks to build an insurance community that would be a one-stop shop for insurance seekers. With the Parliament having cleared the Insurance Bill recently, the liberalization of this sector is expected to happen by the end of this year. A day which Tarun Vohra, Managing Director, Integra Capital, has been waiting for.

According to Vohra, while the per capita premium in the US is $2,000 and in Japan it is more than $3,000, in India it is a little more than $5. Even Thailand and Indonesia have a per capita premium of $250. "Now, assuming that the insurance companies have the licenses by December 2000 and the market picks up 2001, the per capita premium by then is expected to be $50. In that scenario, the estimated market size of the insurable population is worth $10 billion. And if Integra can capitalize on even 5 percent of that market, the potential is tremendous," said Vohra.

The issue on hand is one of building the market and educating potential insurance seekers. In India around seven out 10 people opt for life insurance. Therefore, there is a tremendous need to spread awareness about general insurance. The vortal is an initiative in that direction. The content will be generated by Integra Capital’s team of insurance experts and also outsourced from other experienced insurance experts and journalists. The team at AssureIndia.com will soon be expanded to include stringers across the country and will strive to cover every aspect of insurance. The site is also looking to broadband its content and is in the process of wrapping up alliances with ZipAhead.com and Digital HT of Hindustan Times so that these sites also provide the link-ups. More such alliances are on the anvil. The website is currently being hosted through DelhiNet but the company is talking to Verio to host its website.

Assureindia has chalked out four revenue streams: online and offline selling of insurance; online and offline education prgrammes for intermediators and later for students who seek insurance as a career; career counselling and placement in the insurance sector; and advertisements. In the second phase–post licensing--the company, which already has alliances with LIC and New India Assurance, hopes to form alliances with other insurance companies as well. While AssureIndia is essentially targeted at the B2C segment, another vortal on surity, which is on the anvil, will target the B2B segment. The expansion would require an investment of around Rs 25 crore and Vohra is already talking to a handful of v venture capitalists like Infinity and Gateway Capital.