Get ready for a new insurance company, Acko General Insurance. It has received in principle regulatory clearance to launch a general insurance business in India. The company is expected to launch its products by October. Acko is backed by venture capitalists and family offices. It’s entire operations will be offered through the digital platform. Varun Dua, founder and chief executive officer of Acko (who also founded Coverfox.com, an online insurance broking company) spoke to Mint about what Acko will offer its customers. Edited excerpts:
Acko has positioned itself as a digital insurance company. Traditionally, insurers rely on distributors for sale of their products. Why do you think this will work?
If you look at the general insurance industry in India now, most of the insurers have common insurance products for the retail segment. The market is full of same five to six insurance products. So insurers need to employ distributors to reach out to customers and pitch their products. We will be different because our focus will be to create customised product solutions to cater to customer needs. Therefore, distribution will not be a priority because we believe that by customising products we will create demand. For us, product will be the driver and we will use technology for distribution. We are not saying we don’t need distributors. . We need products that customers want and distributors can sell easily on a technology-enabled platform. If the customer finds a product at a price that is relevant, distributors don’t have to hard sell.
