The competition in the online insurance distribution space is heating up. India’s largest e-commerce giant Flipkart is likely to start distribution of financial products like insurance and mutual funds, say a few media reports.
To start with, the e-commerce firm will start its insurance distribution business. In its RoC filing, the company said, “The company intends to venture into the new line of business viz. solicitation and servicing of insurance policies by acting as a Corporate Agent. In this regard, the company is required to alter its objects clause in order to align its main objects clause in line with the new line of business the company proposes to undertake,” the media report stated.
Currently, corporate agents can sell insurance policies of three life, three non-life and three stand-alone health insurance policies. Flipkart will mainly face competition from banks, as most of the banks are corporate agents. Currently, there are over 400 corporate agents in India.
However, the company has not received a nod from IRDAI. Recently, One97 Communications more popularly known as Paytm received the corporate agency license to solicit insurance policies. With Flipkart following its footsteps, the disruption in the financial services space is certain.
