- News>
- Companies & Commodities
LIC, Max Life in world`s Top 100
Kolkata, Aug 05: Call it a million dollar lifetime experience. Indian insurance monolith, Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) and Max New York Life (MNYL), the only private life insurer from this country, have made it to the list of the world`s top 100 achievers at the Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT) - the ultimate global recognition of excellence in life insurance sales.
Kolkata, Aug 05: Call it a million dollar lifetime experience. Indian insurance monolith, Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) and Max New York Life (MNYL), the only private life insurer from this country, have made it to the list of the world’s top 100 achievers at the Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT) — the ultimate global recognition of excellence in life insurance sales.
With 241 enrolled MDRT members, LIC ranked 24th in final list of the coveted global body which has a total count of more than 28,000 of the world’s best life insurance and financial service professionals from 74 countries.
While New York Life Insurance of the US is perched right at the top with 2,184 MDRT members, its Indian JV- Max New York Life (MNYL) is the only private life insurer from India at 95th position.
The just released list of MDRT rankings for calendar 2002, a copy of which is available with the ET, shows the predominance of other Asian countries like South Korea, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia and China in the first 50 positions, with highest memberships. Ask LIC top brass and they’ll say that the actual numbers of qualifiers on the eligibility criteria.....that the agent should have achieved a commission of over Rs 5.19 lakh in the calendar year or collected a premium worth Rs 20.77 lakh in the calendar is much higher.
When contacted, Mr R K Vashishtha, managing director of LIC said, “True, only a handful have applied for registration and most could not make it to the MDRT convention to the US mainly due to visa problems,” he said.
“Going by the eligibility criteria in 2002, 1,646 of our agents are MDRT qualifiers, while 69 and 17 have qualified for Court of Table and Top of Table where eligibility criteria are higher. The numbers have grown by 26% this year. Our strategy is that that each branch should have atleast one MDRT qualifier. Currently more than 60% of our 2048 branches have one MDRT player,” he said. With a much smaller count of 3,500 agents on its roll, MNYL has 45 MDRT members already. “We felt that the paradigm of life insurance salespersons had to go beyond agents. They had to become financial advisors following an intensive training programme. MNYL has invested significantly on its agents to equip them to deliver quality service,” Mr Anuroop Tony Singh, CEO and managing director, MNYL said.
“However, the number of people getting registered as members with membership fees or even making it to the annual convention were much less especially when compared to countries like South Korea, Mexico, Japan, China or even Trinidad & Tobago in end-June 2003,” Mr Jogesh Ahuja, zone chair for MDRT India, said.
“More agents should enroll for membership to help them exchange ideas and networking opportunities. The global platform provides new insights into business, cutting edge sales techniques and a professional attitude to life sales and service standards,” he said.
According to Mr Vashishtha, LIC has initiated talks with the MDRT to find ways to increase the total number of members. Agents need to be part of a world class body and imbibe the highest order of professional ethics to drive larger business in the Indian market place, he said. Bureau Report
While New York Life Insurance of the US is perched right at the top with 2,184 MDRT members, its Indian JV- Max New York Life (MNYL) is the only private life insurer from India at 95th position.
The just released list of MDRT rankings for calendar 2002, a copy of which is available with the ET, shows the predominance of other Asian countries like South Korea, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia and China in the first 50 positions, with highest memberships. Ask LIC top brass and they’ll say that the actual numbers of qualifiers on the eligibility criteria.....that the agent should have achieved a commission of over Rs 5.19 lakh in the calendar year or collected a premium worth Rs 20.77 lakh in the calendar is much higher.
When contacted, Mr R K Vashishtha, managing director of LIC said, “True, only a handful have applied for registration and most could not make it to the MDRT convention to the US mainly due to visa problems,” he said.
“Going by the eligibility criteria in 2002, 1,646 of our agents are MDRT qualifiers, while 69 and 17 have qualified for Court of Table and Top of Table where eligibility criteria are higher. The numbers have grown by 26% this year. Our strategy is that that each branch should have atleast one MDRT qualifier. Currently more than 60% of our 2048 branches have one MDRT player,” he said. With a much smaller count of 3,500 agents on its roll, MNYL has 45 MDRT members already. “We felt that the paradigm of life insurance salespersons had to go beyond agents. They had to become financial advisors following an intensive training programme. MNYL has invested significantly on its agents to equip them to deliver quality service,” Mr Anuroop Tony Singh, CEO and managing director, MNYL said.
“However, the number of people getting registered as members with membership fees or even making it to the annual convention were much less especially when compared to countries like South Korea, Mexico, Japan, China or even Trinidad & Tobago in end-June 2003,” Mr Jogesh Ahuja, zone chair for MDRT India, said.
“More agents should enroll for membership to help them exchange ideas and networking opportunities. The global platform provides new insights into business, cutting edge sales techniques and a professional attitude to life sales and service standards,” he said.
According to Mr Vashishtha, LIC has initiated talks with the MDRT to find ways to increase the total number of members. Agents need to be part of a world class body and imbibe the highest order of professional ethics to drive larger business in the Indian market place, he said. Bureau Report