SKS: Choose Your Community: Media

On Demand, SKS- Bajaj Allianz provide Microinsurance to Members's Spouses

Sept '2009

Follows success with retail insurance product for members.
Low premium helps poor get life cover.
Poor like door delivery and early settlement of claims in product.

Hyderabad - September 14, 2009 :In a development that will go a long way towards providing additional financial security to potentially fifty lakh families, SKS Microfinance, in partnership with Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance has now launched its best-selling micro-insurance project 'Swayam Shakti Suraksha' to cover husbands of SKS members.

'Swayam Shakti Suraksha' presently covers SKS members. The company has now decided to launch a similar product to cover member's husbands.

The premium payments are as low as Rs. 20 per week and the sum assured under the policy is Rs 5000/-. It also offers additional accidental disability and death benefits. The minimum term of policy is five years and for the customer convenience the claim settlements are done at the centre meeting.

“There was a huge demand for this micro-insurance scheme from our members as 'Swayam Shakti Suraksha' is an exclusive product that SKS launched jointly with Bajaj Allianz last year. It has been a huge success story in the insurance sector, covering nearly 1.7 million lives within 10 months. Introducing this scheme to member's spouse will further strengthen a sense of financial & personal security amongst our member's said M R Rao, COO, SKS Microfinance.

Kamesh Goyal, Country Manager, Allianz & CEO Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance, said, "We are happy that the insurance product has been widely accepted among the members. The extension of the product for member's spouse is a result of the demand amongst them that we and SKS have felt for the last one year."

SKS members are excited about the Husband Insurance product since they feel it provides additional security to their children, covers their husbands who run larger risks since they travel out further to earn a living and the fact that the product is conveniently serviced and delivered at their doorstep during the course of the SKS weekly centre meetings.

The initiative is being rolled out in a phased manner and is currently being offered through 10 urban branches of SKS Microfinance in Andhra Pradesh. Around 4000 spouses have already been provided the insurance cover. The initiative will be rolled out to all the SKS Microfinance branches located across 19 states in the days to come.

"In the coming days, we will be launching the product across 90 new branches in Kurnool and Vijaywada in Andhra Pradesh, Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh, Kochi in Kerala and Jaipur in Rajasthan", explained Vice President, Retail Insurance Sandeep Ralhan, SKS Microfinance.

About SKS Microfinance

SKS Microfinance is a non-bank finance company (NBFC) whose mission is to eradicate poverty by providing financial services to the poor. Established in 1998, SKS Microfinance is India's largest and one of the world's fastest growing microfinance organizations with an annual growth rate of 188 per cent. It currently serves five million clients across 62,000 villages and slums in 19 states. It has disbursed Rs. 9,129 Crore in loans with a 99% repayment rate. SKS Microfinance also provides life and health insurance to its clients. SKS has received numerous awards including the Young Global Leaders by World Economic Forum, CGAP Pro-Poor Innovation Award, the ABN-AMRO/Planet Finance Process Excellence Award, Citibank Information Integrity Award, the Digital Partners SEL Award and the Grameen Foundation USA Excellence Award. It was founded by Vikram Akula, who was named by TIME magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World (2006).