FICCI will raise awareness about insurances among MSMEs

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Saurabh Gupta | 11 Jul, 2009
SMEs and mainly micro industries are not aware about the advantages and products of insurances and we need to create awareness for them, FICCI secretary general Amit Mitra told SME Times.

"Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are not aware and we need to educate them. We also need to give them the products, there are such varieties, 300 products are in the market...so their (SMEs) awareness is very critical. And this is what we have to do from FICCI, to raise awareness and we will do it, Dr. Mitra said on the sidelines of an event organised by FICCI in the national capital on Friday.

When asked about how SMEs are taking insurance as security tool, he said SMEs are very important or you can say informal sector that is micro industry is very important. So the target should be SMEs and the informal sector of India along with the below the poverty line people. These are the three targets SMEs, BPL and the informal sector.

Meanwhile on the growth of insurance sector, the IRDA Chairman, J Hari Narayan said, the non-life industry during 2008-09 recorded total health insurance premium of Rs6,625 crore, which is 30% improvement over the previous year, and more than twice the level seen just two years ago.

By the end of 2008-09, health insurance premium has thus grown over ten-fold from the level seen in 2001-02, Narayan said.

From being largely a single product market marketed by four non-life insurers, today more than 300 health insurance products are offered by over 30 insurance companies, both general and life, he added.

There are also innovations to target specific segments of the insured population, he said, adding, “for example, we now have six specific policies for senior citizens and over 30 recent health insurance products which allow entry up to 65 years of age.”

However, he said, the growth in numbers is also fraught with numerous challenges of ensuring accessibility, affordability and efficiency in the health insurance system of the country, which requires sustained and focused efforts on the part of all stakeholders in the health insurance eco- system.