'There is a trust deficit in the insurance industry'

There were practices that had created the trust deficit between insurers and policyholders, said Pankaj Razdan, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Birla Sun Life Insurance (BSLI).

“Trust deficit happens when people expect something, but don’t get it right. So, there is a mismatch between the buyer and the seller, in experience or in communication. So there were practices that were not very customer-oriented. There still are practices that need to be strengthened,” Razdan told Deccan Herald.

“This was the basic reason that we decided to build the business of trust surplus. I am fine with cutting down branches and even degrowth. Fortunately, we realised the importance of customer centricity,” Razdan added.

He also highlighted how BSLI changed their entire business model in 2015-16. “Taking the seed of innovation and customer centricity, we rebuilt our entire business model. There were two fundamental changes that we made in our business. First, we focused on making scarce things abundant. The second fundamental thing that we focussed on was on counselling the customers rather than selling,” he added.

Highlighting the difference between counselling and selling, Razdan said, “The moment you get into selling, or pushing the customer into selling, you will end up doing something wrong to the customer. And counselling means empowering the customer.”

Health insurance biz
Razdan also said that the company will be launching the health insurance business soon.
“Our heath insurance business is going to get launched soon. We should hopefully launch it by October or November. The regulatory process is going on right now. The whole idea would be to not only sell the products, but also tell people to remain fit,” he said.