PNB MetLife Broadens its Product Portfolio with Three Unique Offerings for Retail Customers

Portfolio

* A guaranteed savings plan, which allows customers the flexibility of pay-out as a lumpsum or supplementary income

* A combined plan, assuring life and health insurance protection, with coverage against Covid-19

* A new Unit Linked Insurance Plan (ULIP), which offers whole life cover along with tailor-made solutions for wealth creation

PNB MetLife Insurance is expanding its product portfolio with three new unique offerings: PNB MetLife Guaranteed Future Plan; Mera Mediclaim Plan and PNB MetLife Smart Platinum Plus. At PNB MetLife customer centricity is the cornerstone that binds all functions. These offerings complement the Company’s concept of “Circle of Life”, which assesses the needs of the customers and offers them with solutions on varied financial needs including - Child Education, Family Protection, Long Term Savings and Retirement.are testament to this approach and was designed keeping in mind the evolving needs of customers across different segments. 

PNB MetLife Guaranteed Future Plan, a guaranteed savings life insurance plan that offers dual advantages of long term guaranteed benefits and financial protection to the family in case of adversities. The plan offers complete control to customer and helps customize the savings schedule based on customer’s needs and affordability. It allows customers the flexibility to choose their future guaranteed pay-out as a lumpsum, income or a combination thereof which will help meeting financial requirements for various goals.

The company, in partnership with Religare Health Insurance, has launched - Mera Mediclaim Plan – that combines benefits of health and life insurance under a single policy. The new solution gives customers access to quality healthcare, cashless hospitalization, along with life insurance coverage.

Additionally, the company has also received approval from the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) to launch PNB MetLife Smart Platinum Plus, a whole life savings-oriented unit-linked insurance plan (ULIP). The plan also offers life insurance cover to protect ones family in case of an unfortunate demise as well as provides with tailor-made solutions to achieve ones goals, including an option where wealth creation doesn’t take a back seat even during critical illness.

Ashish Kumar Srivastava, MD & CEO, PNB MetLife, said “At PNB MetLife, we believe in “Customer Centricity’ and continuously work towards providing solutions in line with our mantra. As a part of our ‘Circle of Life’ approach, which has been conceptualized to deliver need-based solutions that provide financial wellbeing to the customers during their lifetime, the new products will address the need for life and health protection as well as wealth creation.  PNB MetLife also declared bonus for its participating polices which remains consistent even in these uncertain times. We will continue to invest our efforts in product innovations and introduce more products that will serve the life-stage needs of our valued customers.”  

PNB MetLife Guaranteed Future Plan offers four different options to create a corpus to meet one’s financial goals. The plan comes with a guaranteed income ranging from 103% to 245% of the annualized premium.  Annual premiums higher than Rs.30,000 also receive High Premium Reward ranging from 4% - 12% of annualized premiums.  Besides one can opt for Income plus booster options that will give them an additional income pay-out at specified intervals ranging from 30%-406%. The plan allows customers to time the receipt of maturity amounts on special occasions like birthdays or anniversaries. The policyholder will also be eligible to avail income tax benefit on premiums paid and benefits received under 80 (c) and 10(10d).

Mera Mediclaim Plan offers coverage for comprehensive health and hospitalisation insurance along with life insurance.  The plan features cashless hospitalization cover across Religare Health Insurance’s network of more than 7,500 hospitals. The plan also covers more than 540 Day Care Treatments, alternative treatments such as Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy and offers a no claim bonus which helps cover to increase upto 220% over two years and 250% over five years. This unique plan provides a cost-effective solution for customers by offering a discount of 7.5% on both life and health insurance premiums, plus dual tax benefits under both section 80 (c) and 80 (d)

PNB MetLife Smart Platinum Plus is a whole life protection and savings oreinted Unit Linked Insurance Plan.  The plan features an unique Care Benefit which helps customers secure their goals against health exigencies and the insurer pays all future premiums in case of diagnosis of any of the listed five critical illnesses. The plan provides additional allocations through features like Return of Fund Management charges of 1st 5 years and Fund booster which is paid at the end of 10th year which enhance the fund value and also incentivise the customers to stay invested for longer. This holistic plan offers the policyholder with the freedom to choose from the benefits, duration of premium payment, the sum assured multiple and also maximise their wealth creation potential through a choice of portfolio strategies and variety of funds. It also offers flexibility of switching between different fund depending on the risk appetite and partially withdrawing money from the fund value after the lock-in period.  The company so far has 22 unit-linked funds in its portfolio of which PNB MetLife Virtue Fund II and PNB MetLife Virtue Fund has been ranked amongst the top 10 in the Insurance Large Cap Category (as of June 30, 2020) by Morningstar, a leading independent investment research organization. This ranking is testimony to the company’s strong fund management prosess and reaffirm the commitment to deliver value accretive growth to its customers investing through market-linked products. 

This trio of products launched by PNB MetLife holistically fulfils the advanced needs and demands of the consumer. Amongst the three products, Mera Mediclaim Plan and PNB MetLife Guaranteed Future Plan are available across PNB MetLife’s bancasurance, agency as well as online channels. As the masses settle to the new normal where protection of health and life and wealth creation have assumed a level of importance like never before, PNB MetLife strives to serve its customers at every new juncture of their lives through its dynamic and ever-evolving approach to customer satisfaction.

About PNB MetLife India Insurance Company Limited

PNB MetLife India Insurance Company Limited (PNB MetLife) has as its shareholders MetLife International Holdings LLC. (MIHL), Punjab National Bank Limited (PNB), Jammu & Kashmir Bank Limited (JKB), M. Pallonji and Company Private Limited and other private investors, with MIHL and PNB being the majority shareholders.

VIL Offers a Unified Vodafone RED Experience to All Postpaid Customers Across Indian Telecom Circles

Vodafone Idea Limited, one of India’s leading telecom service providers, today announced the completion of its postpaid consolidation journey by bringing all Idea post-paid subscribers under a single umbrella of Vodafone RED. All Vodafone Idea postpaid customers can now avail benefits of the Vodafone RED plan, a uniform customer service, and an enhanced digital experience.

This consolidation is a major step towards its synergy realisations and has led to process standardization for both the retail and enterprise customers.

It will enable the company to provide a uniform customer experience through self-service channels with enriched menu options on IVR, USSD, MyVodafone App and Websites for availing products, services and making payments. Erstwhile Idea postpaid customers now do not need to go through a separate on-boarding and service experience. They can now avail Red Family subscription, a single bill for entire family, access to Vodafone Play, premium content and a bouquet of other value added services.

Announcing the completion of postpaid consolidation, Vishant Vora, Chief Technology Officer, Vodafone Idea said, “The consolidation of Vodafone and Idea postpaid customers is a major step towards our vision of one company, one network. One of the biggest and fastest migration in the telecom space, this has led to operational synergies and process standardisation for both our postpaid retail and enterprise customers. It enables us to provide enhanced customer experience to our postpaid users.”

With this consolidation, Call Centre Agents will be able to serve customers better using the CRM insights provided through 360 degree view on customer information, interactions and service profiles. Real time rating functionality will ensure accurate unbilled charging for customers at any given point of time. Customer will also be able to receive timely notification and alerts for any over usage. Moreover automated credit monitoring and dunning can trigger on time to ensure customer does not incur huge Bills thus avoiding Bill shocks.

Vodafone Idea has successfully integrated two strong networks in 92% of the districts, taking the integrated circles to 18. The deployment of new age technologies such as M-MIMO, DSR, Hybrid Cloud, OpenRan to enhance capacities and increased 4G coverage has resulted in richer customer experience.

During the pandemic the company has introduced several initiatives like recharges and payments via ATM/ USSD/ other digital platforms and launched AI powered customer service Bot on WhatsApp to keep its customers connected with their loves ones.

Hyundai Partners with HDFC Bank Offering Customised Online Car Financing Solutions on ‘Click to Buy’

Finance Solutions 

* First OEM to offer retail financing solutions on online car buying platform

* Eliminates customer need to visit HDFC Bank/ Branch to avail car financing solutions

* Customised retail financing solutions available at the click of a button

Hyundai Motor India Limited (HMIL), country’s first smart mobility solutions provider and largest exporter since inception, announced its partnership with HDFC Bank, offering industry first online auto retail financing solutions to the customers on India’s only end-to-end online automotive retail platform ‘Click to Buy’.  

Under the ambit of this partnership, Hyundai will offer its customers customised car financing solutions from HDFC Bank directly on the ‘Click to Buy’ online car buying platform. Through this partnership, customer can opt for loans and get the requisite funding to complete life goals of buying their Favourite Hyundai car. The integration of HDFC Bank’s car finance solutions on ‘Click to Buy’ adds further comfort to customers as it eliminates the need for customers to visit HDFC Bank/ Branch to avail loans.

Commenting on the partnership, Mr W S Oh, Executive Director – Corporate Planning, Hyundai Motor India said “Keeping our promise of providing a holistic digital car buying experience to our customers, our partnership with HDFC bank will forge a new beginning for the customer purchase journey from any virtual location with the most lucrative finance deals. Since the launch of Click to Buy, we have received over 9 lakh visitors on the platform and have recorded over 17 000 Registrations in two months. 

Speaking on the alliance Mr. Arvind Kapil, Country Head for Retail Lending at HDFC Bank, "The partnership with Hyundai Motor India is in line with our belief that a digital eco-system needs to be created to enhance customer experience, particularly in the current environment. An eco-system that brings OEMs, dealerships and financiers together and enables a customer to purchase a new car sitting in the comfort of their homes. At the core of our digital strategy is Analytics and APIs .Analytics helps us understand our customers better and give them customized product offerings and services. While APIs enables us to create a seamless connect between various stake-holders keeping the customer at the centre. We are happy to say the association with Hyundai Motor India is a win-win not just for customers but all players in the auto industry”

‘Click to Buy’ is designed to facilitate end-to-end retail of Hyundai cars online making owning a new car – contactless, safer, convenient and hassle free. With ‘Click to Buy’ Hyundai is offering access to its complete range of car models and is the only platform that covers all stages of customer purchase journey in an even more seamless and convenient manner. Through this online car buying platform, Hyundai is offering customer delight with features such as on-road prices, dedicated sales consultants, online finance options, fastest loan approval for pre-approved customers, unique deal codes for customer discounts, estimated time of delivery, special online promotions, online booking for test drive cars (Fully Sanitized) and home delivery of completely sanitized cars. 

Larsen and Toubro to set up commercial banks

The financial services arm of construction and engineering major Larsen and Toubro (L&T) is planning to set up a commercial bank as part of its efforts to have a presence in the entire gamut of financial services in the country.

L&T Finance, which already holds 4.69 percent in City Union Bank, said here Thursday that there were related advantages of starting a bank especially to provide services to corporate partners.

Apart from L&T Finance, the group has floated another non-banking finance company (NBFC), L&T Infrastructure Finance, as well as incorporating a general insurance company, L&T General Insurance.

"Our long-term vision is to be present in the entire gamut of financial services including asset management, general and life insurance and bank. Our vision is to be a wholesome financial services player but no time frame has been fixed to achieve that," said Larsen and Toubro's executive vice president for financial services N. Sivaraman.

Various options will be looked at -- going alone, partnering another company or acquisition -- before a decision is taken, Sivaraman told reporters.

However, Larsen and Toubro's first expansion move in the financial services field will be in the general insurance sector through its investment arm L&T Capital Holdings.

"We don't find a need for a foreign partner for funds. For assessment of risks, it is actually based on local experience. A foreign partner brings in expertise in pricing of the risk. We can do that on our own," Sivaraman said.

According to him, though there are talks about the Indian general insurance sector moving towards consolidation, buying out the stakes of existing promoters did not enthuse Larsen and Toubro.

"The foreign promoters of Indian general insurance companies are here for the long run. Further, an existing company may come with a baggage which we do not want."

The non-life insurance company is expected to start business in 2010.

About floating a bank, Sivaraman said: "There are relative advantages of having an NBFC and a bank."

"There are two agendas for holding a stake in a bank. The first one is to have a share in the business. The second is the availability of banking services to our trade partners in opening letters of credit and other banking products."

The lending portfolio of Larsen and Toubro's two NBFCs at the end of last fiscal stood at around Rs.7,500 crore, which is expected to grow this year.

L&T Finance will also raise Rs.1,000 crore through issue of non-convertible debentures for business deployment.

Agencies