In India, we have licensed web aggregators – those who are licensed by the insurance regulator. We have 22 web aggregators as on today. To give an example of a web aggregator – we do have some organizations like Policy Bazaar, PolicyX, Instabima, PolicyPlanner etc. Of these 22 web aggregators, 11 i.e., 50% of them are located in Delhi-NCR area. The other 50% are distributed throughout India.
What do web aggregators do? Web aggregators are those organisations where one can compare insurance quotations from all insurance companies at one place. For example, it could be car insurance, health insurance, life insurance or any insurance – you can compare premium and choose the cheapest. This is the fundamental work of a web aggregator who have an agreement with insurance companies. They receive directly quotations from them. There will not be any change in the quoted premium if all other facts or details about the risk do not change.
Prima facie, this looks like a great opportunity where the client can see on his computer / smartphone the premium of different insurance companies and choose the cheapest. The client does not have to visit each company to get the quotation. In principle, the concept is beautiful.
The biggest flaw with web aggregators is they do not compare the policy wording. Nor do they compare claim process. Both policy wording and claim process are related. They proceed on the premise that premium is the deciding factor. To a great extent premium is an important factor. However, policy wording is the deciding factor in the long run. On paper, all companies have the same motor policy wording or life or health insurance policy wording. Are they?
For example, (I am not passing a judgement on web aggregators) one web aggregator, you can easily find out who I am referring to, lists the claim process of car insurance.
Question: What is the procedure for claiming the policy money if there is a theft of car?
Answer: The procedure is the same that of accident. They explained what is the claim procedure in case of an accident. Interestingly, the customer’s notion of theft and the insurers notion of theft are totally different.
The Indian Motor policy does not define the word ‘theft’! Do you think the policy gets accepted because you paid premium through a wen aggregator? We can also take the example of accident thought a weak definition of accident is provided in the Motor policy wording. It does not stand the test of time.
I am yet to see a web aggregator who gives the policy wording comparison, suggests his interpretation of policy wording to the customer. I wonder if any web aggregator has even read the Motor policy wording! The notion that the customer will go by the price alone is archaic. Today’s customer is very intelligent…at least I think so. He would certainly love to compare the policy wording.
The complete list of the 22 web aggregators link is given below:
(www.irdai.gov.in/ADMINCMS/cms/NormalData_Layout.aspx?page=PageNo2337&mid=9.6.1). Their website indicates they deal with all kinds of policies. If I take Health insurance / Medical insurance as example, the policy has defined what the word ‘sickness’ is! Some insurers and web aggregators term it as Health insurance. Others term it as Medical insurance. What is the difference? Do you know?
I am looking for a web aggregator who can give his comparative recommendation on Price, Policy wording and claim processes etc. That web aggregator who does this kind of a comprehensive work is considered as professional…others glorified insurance agents!
Without taking of the aggregators, I wish to say that a popular cinema hero Akshay Kumar features in a TV commercial dressed as Lord Yama – the Hindu God of death – to advise viewers’ on insurance policies looks as foolishly ridiculous as comparing premium alone. The religious tilted fear generating commercials are a big joke…no one takes it seriously. The TV commercial of this web aggregator is indirectly informing that only Hindus can buy policies as the Hindu god of death is projected! What about Christians, Muslims and Parsees? They constitute 50% of Indian population.
About the Author
Dr. K. Raja Gopal Reddy is a seasoned internationally qualified Insurance professional.
What you are reading here, may not answer all the questions we have, but has the absolute power of asking unsettling questions which increase the interest in the strange world, and show the contradictory wonders lying just below the surface of the commonest things of life. Look at this disturbing but beautiful thought of Friedrich Nietzsche “God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him”.
Dr. Reddy can be reached at: raja66gopal@gmail.com
