Telenor Enrolls 5 Million Users For Free Life Insurance

• 1.5 million users given insurance cover in October

• Offers two months of free cover to all new customers

• No premium to be paid by Telenor customer

Telenor India today announced that it has crossed more than five million enrollments for its life insurance cover scheme. Telenor has also issued 1.5 million free life insurance to its enrolled users in October.

The free life insurance scheme is a first of its kind initiative by Telenor India launched in September for Telenor’s existing 47.78 million as well as potential customers across its six operating circles. With this inititaive Telenor has fully aligned itself with the government’s agenda of financial inclusion for the masses.

Talking about the high levels of interest shown by subscribers in the offer, Upanga Dutta, chief marketing officer, Telenor India said, “We are a highly customer centric company that has worked to bring the full benefits of mobile and Internet to its customers. We have combined technology with financial security to market a product through our distribution channels. This reinforces our stand of bringing more value on every trasanction.”

Telenor is offering life insurance for free to all active customers of the company. By spending on regular recharges with a small incremental value, Telenor consumers will get the benefit of an life Insurance cover, which will be a hundred times of the monthly recharge value and up to a maximum of Rs 50,000. This is Telenor’s innovative customer centric scheme to be able to offer greater value. It would help contribute meaningfully to the financial inclusion agenda of the government ensuring financial security for family members.

Industry estimates show that currently less than 7% of India’s population has an insurance cover of any type. The primary reasons for the low penetration are issues like lack of awareness, cumbersome enrollment process, cost of insurance and lack of trust. Lack of distribution network has also restricted insurance products becoming popular and pervasive. Telenor’s insurance scheme has been designed to address all these issues.

Telenor India has taken a promise to offer additional value, and make its propositions simple and fair for all customers. To ensure more value for money to our mass market customers, we have tied up with our partners to offer Insurance which is easy to get and simple to understand.

Customers can avail this service by calling customer call center or dial the self help menu *121# or opt-in for it by approaching any of the 2000 Telenor stores. For every recharge done by the customer, a 100X insurance cover will be provided to him. For customers availing this offer, there is no separate documentation required.

Telenor will work with Shriram Life Insurance and MicroEnsure to take the initiative to the masses. At each customer touch point, trained staff will be available to educate the customers and address their queries. In the unfortunate incident of death of a customer, the claim will be processed by submitting relevant documents like the death certificate, nominee id proof and the SIM card. The settlement will be done within seven days of submission of all relevant documents.

In August this year Telenor Group had got an “in-principle” approval from Reserve Bank of India to the joint application of Dilip Shanghvi Family & Associates (DSA) and IDFC to set up a payment bank in India. With this Telenor will be able to offer mobile banking solutions and extend the benefits of banking to the unbanked. Telenor is preparing to launch mobile banking services soon.