Change in insurance sector to come from use of data analytics, ease of claim settlement processes: Anik Jain, Symbo Insurance

Insurance Industry in India is expected to reach $280 billion by 2020, driven by increasing awareness, innovative products, and more distribution channels, said a recent IBEF report. But, the insurance reach is still low in India. Overall insurance penetration in the country was 3.69 per cent in India, the report said. Anik Jain, co-founder & CEO, Symbo Insurance, in an email interview with Zee Business Online talked about various aspects of startup ecosystem and the company's growth plan ahead. Here are edited excerpts:

How do you differentiate Symbo with other insurance brokers?
Symbo's strength lies in creating innovative insurance products for customer needs and shifting the insurance discussion from "selling what we have" to "creating what the customer needs". We differentiate in removing manual intervention in the insurance journey based on strength of our technology solutions. Symbo has technology solution for each stage of customer journey including consulting, product fitment/innovation, buying and most importantly claims processing.

Is Symbo a platform where people can insurance buy insurance from any insurers?
We integrate with insurance companies and make their products available to customer through a user friendly journey. We choose our insurance partners basis product design, cost and claim settlement process and capabilities. 

Which are the insurers Symbo has tied-up with?
We have partnered with most of major insurance companies including but not limited to HDFC ergo, Bajaj Allianz, Reliance General Insurance etc. Broking license provided by IRDA enables us to work with all life and general insurance companies in India. As stated earlier, our choice of partner is dependent on customer needs and experience.

Is Symbo selling the same products that are already available in the market?
Symbo makes most of the existing products available to customers, but our focus is to create specific solution for customer needs instead of selling esiting products. Some of the innovative products we have launched are Marathon insurance, Fitness insurance, vision insurance etc. Each of these are created for specific customer needs and underwritten by different insurance partners basis their risk appetite and claim servicing strength.

Where do you think the insurance sector needs improvement?
Insurance sector has seen significant changes in last two decades in regulatory framework and improved distribution mechanism. The next set of insurance improvement will come from  use of data analytics and design thinking in product innovation and most importantly,  including auto settlement, parametric covers and artificial intelligence in claim settlement. Last decade has seen starting of distribution innovation which will accelerate in the next 3-5 years helping increase insurance penetration in India

What insurance products have seen maximum demand?
Insurance industry is seeing the transition from compulsory product to need based or risk mitigation products. This shift is moving the industry from auto insurance dependent to personal lines focused products. Increased demand of health and protection only life cover is a shift in the right direction. Symbo has seen a significant demand for need based products created for specific lifestyle/life stage need of customer.