In an unusual development, a senior official of a large life insurer has launched an online petition to mobilise support against ‘dual pricing’ pursued by insurance companies to prune cost.
The practice of charging lower premium to customers who bypass agents to buy policies directly from life companies can not only cause serious disruption, it is also “unfair”, “unethical” and violates a key provision of Insurance Act 1938, according to the petitioner Prakash Mahtani, managing partner at Birla Sun Life — a joint-venture between Aditya Birla group and Sun Life Financial Inc of Canada.