'Our target is 10% share by '10'

Swaraj Krishnan is the new chief executive officer of Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Company. Prior to this posting, Krishnan was general director for reinsurance and claims in the same company. He have nearly two decennary of experience in the non-life insurance industry.

In an interview with Falaknaaz Syed, Krishnan talks about his programs for Bajaj Allianz General and issues facing the industry. Excerpts:

What are your precedences in the new assignment?

The industry is in a passage form from tariff-based to partial to a free-pricing regime. We have got managed this passage well and are meeting our growing agenda. One of my first precedences is to keep and prolong this growing impulse as well as reserve talent, which is critical to achieve our aim of growing with profitability.

We would add or addition productiveness of our assorted statistical distribution channels, launch need-based merchandises and vie in profitable client section and also prolong the low-cost expansion theoretical account to heighten penetration. What are the marks that you have got put for the company?

Bajaj Allianz have put a mark of achieving a 10 per cent marketplace share by 2009-2010. We have got already reached closer to it by attaining a marketplace share of 8 per cent in the first one-half of the current fiscal year.

How make you be after to get by with the competition from public sector insurers?

We have got a winning combination of claims handling and client sensitivity, which will assist us to effectively pull off the challenges in the new government as it unfolds.

We are closely working with Allianz Centre of Competence for the best patterns in pricing and underwriting.

I am certain this volition aid us to get at the right terms besides the usage techniques for new merchandise development. Merchandise development and service bringings will be the cardinal differentiators.

What will be the growing scenario, given the lag in the growing of non-life insurance companies in the passage to a detariffed regime?

Free marketplace have within its scope the conception of supply and demand. Prices therefore will eventually follow a form leading to stability.

In our estimation, we shall go on to demo the robust growing tendency we are currently on. The marketplace is also slated to turn with the new greenfield investings in substructure undertakings such as as roads, airports, and SEZs.

The retail section and, especially wellness and motor coverage portfolios, would be the major growing drivers in the future.

The grounds are obvious: growing in vehicle gross sales amidst an improving roadstead and the increasing susceptibleness to life style changes-related illnesses.

What are the lines of concerns you will concentrate on in a fully detarrifed scenario?

In a fully detariffed scenario, we may have got to rejig the coverage portfolio in keeping with the industry trends. We will go on to turn the existent traditional lines of business.

We would be concentrating on sections where pricing is not the lone standard for deciding coverage spouse but the insurer's expertness in that section and services.

We would be bringing in the Allianz expertness in sections such as as energy, including petrochemicals, powerfulness projects, aviation, and undertaking insurance.

Do you see a consolidation with many new participants entering the market?

We believe the pie is large adequate for everyone to share. Our acquisitions and experience gained since our origin in 2001 will assist us to confront the challenges.

Besides the strong technical expertness with Allianz, we are well positioned to implement the best planetary patterns in India, which will assist us to be ahead of our competitors.

Bajaj Allianz General is making profits. When make you be after to listing it?

This is an issue that the stockholders have got to decide.

What will the impact be on wellness concerns of general coverage players?

Health coverage is a growth portfolio and naturally have drawn many playersd. However, the coverage offered by life insurance companies is different from what is offered by us.

In addition, a life coverage company is not accustomed to manage big volume of claims on a day-to-day footing and non-life insurance companies make have got expertness on this important front.

Who are your reinsurers? How much make you reinsure?

Bajaj Allianz have the peak keeping among all private sector insurance companies in Republic Of India with nearly 60 per cent of insurance premiums and hazards retained by us. The dependance on reinsurance is, accordingly, less.

Our reinsurance is placed with companies which ran into our hard-and-fast security vetting guidelines (SVG) and it is largely placed with GIC, Allianz Rhenium and other AA-rated insurers.