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This tracker has been compiled from external sources and does not necessarily reflect the views of the company. Links provided will take you to the full articles appended at the end of the file.

© 2008 Zenith Optimedia.

 

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15. Now, Cash Back On Debit Cards To Promote Spends

17 July, 2008

 

Unlike credit card, there is no fear of overspending and no penalty and interest charges for late payment.

 

How about getting back a percentage of the money spent on a new LCD television, clothes or the monthly grocery? This may be possible now because banks are offering a cash back facility on debit cards to encourage customers to use more of the plastic money.

 

Customers can avail themselves of up to ten per cent cash back on debit card (the percentage varies from bank to bank), which are directly linked to the account.

 

Debit cards enjoy various advantages over a credit card. Unlike credit card, there is no fear of overspending and no penalty and interest charges for late payment. Receiving cash back on debit card is therefore a better proposition for the customer, said senior bank officials.

 

Banks usually announce such schemes during the festive season, while some banks have such schemes running throughout the year. Some banks offer it on specific categories of purchase or spend, such as on fuel recharge.

 

Banks, however, do not provide cash back on ATM withdrawals and Internet transactions. According to Mr Sai Narain CDK, Head – Consumer Transaction Banking & Strategic Initiatives, Standard Chartered Bank, India, “Consumer research pointed to dissatisfaction with existing reward points and redemption programmes that offered exchange of rewards points with products. Consumers are more interested in instant gratification.”

 

Thematic offer
Standard Chartered continuously engages customers with round the year thematic cash back offers. “Double the rewards points — implying double the cash back has been the most successful promotion,” said Mr Narain. The bank has seen a 30 per cent increase in customer spends on debit cards last year supported by these promotions.

 

For banks, higher spends would mean higher income from interchange fee, said a senior bank official at a private bank. “If you can run a campaign of 2-3 months you can see spends increase by 10-20 per cent,” said Mr Sameer Nemavarkar, Vice-President, Retail Banking, Axis Bank.

 

Activation strategy
Axis Bank offers cash back schemes for certain segment such as for spends on fuel. According to Mr Nemavarkar, while giving such schemes on credit card is a high-risk high-return game and calls for efficient managing of the outstanding; that on debit card is more of an activation strategy.

 

“We had run a campaign on activation of new cards by offering a cash back of Rs 50 on a spend of Rs 1,000,” he said.

 

State Bank of India and Barclays have announced cash back scheme beginning July 1, and other banks are expected to follow suit. While SBI gives 5 per cent cash back, Barclays has offered 10 per cent cash facility.

 

“10 per cent cash back offer will help us strengthen our relationship with our customers and enhance brand loyalty,” said Mr Suresh Gurumani, Director, Retail Banking, Barclays India.

 

 

 

 

16. ‘Insurance Sector May Touch Rs 2 Lakh Cr By 2010’

15 August, 2008

 

India's insurance sector may touch a level of Rs 2 lakh crore in the next two years in view of aggressive marketing techniques adopted by private insurance companies, a report said.

 

"The total insurance business will reach a level of Rs 2 lakh crore in next two years from current level of Rs 500 billion (5,000 crore)," industry body Assocham said in its report `Insurance Sector Futuristic Growth'.

 

Private insurance business would grow at the rate of 140 per cent in view of aggressive marketing technique adopted by them, against 35-40 per cent of state-owned insurance companies growth rate, it said.

 

On account of intense marketing strategies adopted by private insurance players, the market share of state-owned insurance companies like GIC, LIC have already come down to 70 per cent in last 4-5 years from over 97 per cent, Assocham President Sajjan Jindal said.

 

The state owned insurance companies have limited number of policies to offer to their subscribers while in case of private insurance companies, their policy numbers are many more and the premium amount as well as the maturity period is much competitive against those of government insurance firms.

 

The private sector insurance players have started exploring the rural markets in which until recently the state-run companies had the monopoly, Jindal said.

 

The chamber has also suggested that insurers strategy should stimulate demand in areas that are currently not served at all. Insurance companies mostly focus on manufacturing sector, though, the services sector is taking a large and growing share of Indias GDP. This offers immense opportunities for expansion opportunities.

 

 

 

17. Fidelity Fund Management and Bajaj Allianz Financial Distributors Enter into a Distribution Tie Up

16 June, 2008

 

Fidelity asset management company (AMC) in India today entered into an agreement with Bajaj Allianz Financial Distributors for the distribution of its products. J K Bhagat, CEO, Bajaj Allianz Financial Distributors, and Ashu Suyash, Managing Director and Country Head - India, Fidelity International, signed the agreement. With this tie-up Fidelity AMC’s funds can now be sold by over 5500 agents of Bajaj Allianz Financial Distributors (BAFDL), a number that is expected to grow significantly as BAFDL increases the number of AMFI-certified agents by training their insurance agency network of more than 3 lakh agents.

 

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Bhagat said, “We are delighted to announce our partnership with Fidelity even as we look to bring a wider range of products to our customers. We are working with our agency network to train a growing number of agents to be AMFI certified so that they are equipped to provide holistic advice to customers.”

 

Ms. Suyash added, “Mutual funds are an under owned investment product in India and this has largely been due to low market penetration given the smaller number of mutual fund agents as compared to insurance agents. With this landmark tie-up with Bajaj Allianz Financial Distributors, we will be able to tap in to their network of agents who will now be able to offer their customers mutual funds along side insurance.”

 

 

 

18. Tata AIG General Teams Up With Cleartrip.Com To Offer Travel Insurance

27 Augugst, 2008

 

Cleartrip, India’s favorite online travel portal has teamed up with Tata AIG General Insurance Company Ltd. (Tata AIG General) to offer domestic travel insurance solutions to its customers. This new product called ‘TravInsure’ can be purchased by customers through a simple tick while making their domestic airline bookings.

 

TravInsure covers Cleartrip travelers against the following pitfalls of modern day travel:

 

-- Flight delays

 

-- Medical expenses incurred while traveling

 

-- Lost baggage

 

-- Flight cancellations due to sickness, injury or Death.

 

The policy can be bought online for just Rs. 129 per round trip. The policy is valid for the duration of a round trip cross-sector travel or 30 days from the date of booking.

 

Cleartrip now offers travel insurance to meet the changing needs of the Indian consumer. Speaking about TravInsure by Tata AIG General, Mr. Noel Swain, Vice President -Marketing Cleartrip, said, “At Cleartrip, we always try to add more value to the services we offer to our customers. This initiative will ensure that travelers feel safe and secure while using our services. And what better partner than Tata AIG General which offers excellent quality in their travel insurance products.”

 

Commenting on the association, Mr. Gaurav D. Garg, Managing Director, Tata AIG General Insurance Company Ltd. said, “We are delighted to tie up with Cleartrip to offer a meaningful yet an inexpensive product to their customers. As modern India takes to the skies, it is becoming increasingly important to offer greater value to customers. With this partnership Tata AIG General has consolidated dominance in the space of Domestic Travel Insurance in addition to leadership in overseas Travel Insurance.”

 

The TravInsure policy will cover damages ranging from Rs1,500 to Rs 7,50,000.

 

 

 

19. Max NY Life Unveils New Brand Positioning

27 August, 2008

 

Max New York Life Insurance Co Ltd plans to expand aggressively in the South this fiscal, a top company official has said.

 

“We already have well dispersed presence in North and Western India. Bulk of the expansion will happen in South this year. By the end of the year, we will be in 75 towns with 125 offices”, Mr Debhasis Sarkar, Senior Director & Chief Marketing Officer, MNYLI, told Business Line, after unveiling the company’s new consumer-oriented brand positioning here.

 

MNYLI currently has 366 offices in 223 cities and aims to expand presence to 1,000 cities with about 1,600 offices by 2012.

 

The company has coined a new tagline “Karo Zyaada ka Iraada” to represent an ambitious and assertive India that is ready to compete for more, demand more, dream more and live more to create a better today and brighter tomorrow.

 

Studies conducted by Mckinsey Global Institute and demographic research by Max New York Life Insurance point to the modern Indian consumer as predominantly young and more confident than ever before, willing to take risks and unabashedly ambitious. This radical change in the thought process of the consumer has inspired MNYLI to revamp the brand and change the tagline from “Your Partner for Life” to “Karo Zyaada Ka Iraada”, Mr Sarkar said.

 

 

 

 

20. Bajaj Allianz Signs Up Vijender

30 August, 2008

 

Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance Company, on Thursday, announced that it has signed up Olympic medal winner and boxing champion Vijender Singh as its “youth icon”. Speaking at an event organised to announce the brand association, Mr Akshay Mehrotra, Head Marketing, said “Vijender is someone who matches our company’s ideology of hard work and perseverance. His sincere humble back ground, dedication and determination have made him a winner. We hope his si ncerity will show in this brand association”. Mr Mehrotra said that the company was looking at India’s youth as an important target segment of customers and would leverage Vijender’s youth icon status to reach out to them. Bajaj Allianz has also provided a “large” life cover to Vijender as part of his brand association with the company.

 

 

 

21. Reliance Money Ties Up With NMCE For Agri-Exchange

5 August, 2008

 

Anil Ambani Group company Reliance Money along with the National Multi-Commodity Exchange (NMCE) will set up a spot exchange for agricultural produce aimed at facilitating electronic trading in agri products.

 

The two companies would set up National Agricultural Produce Marketing Company of India Ltd (National APMC Ltd) that would provide required infrastructure for electronic trading in agricultural products, that would bring greater transparency, risk management capability and price discovery.

 

"Electronic spot trading will unlock unprecedented value through benefits from better prices, transparent trading, guaranteed trades, better warehousing and logistics and lower marketing costs for farmers, traders and consumers," Reliance Money CEO Sudip Bandyopadhyay said.

 

At the outset, the National APMC would set up delivery centres in Rajasthan and Gujarat and the electronic platform for spot trading in agri commodities would be operationalised in later part of this year, a company release said.

 

"We will initially focus on these two states and later expand our presence to other states. We plan to reach out to all the 7,500 Agricultural Produce Marketing Committees (APMCs) across the country over the next one year," NMCE MD Kailash Gupta said.

 

It will provide the benefit and convenience of efficient price discovery and trading to producers and thus widening the scope of the market across the country.

 

 

 

22. New HDFC Standard Life policy

5 August, 2008

 

HDFC Standard Life has launched a new product called "Unit Linked Wealth Maximiser Plus". This is a single premium investment cum protection plan, with a minimum premium of Rs 1 lakh. The policyholder has the option to choose from five fund options - Money Plus Fund, Bond Opportunities Fund, Large-cap Fund, Mid-cap Fund, and Manager's Fund. HDFC Standard Life will offer regular loyalty units of 0.10 per cent every year as long as the policy is not surrendered. The accumulated value of the funds is received at the end of the policy term. In the event of unfortunate demise of the policyholder during the policy tenure, HDFC Standard Life will pay the greater of the Sum Assured (less all applicable withdrawals) and the total fund value to the family members of.

 

 

 

23. Fidelity Launches Its First Fixed Maturity Plan

18 August, 2008

 

Asset Management Company, the Indian arm of Fidelity International, today announced the launch of its first Fixed Maturity Plan (FMP), the Fidelity Fixed Maturity, Series 1 - Plan A with a duration of 370 days from the date of allotment of units. This scheme is a close-ended debt scheme with an objective to seek to generate reasonable returns and reduce interest rate volatility primarily through investment in money market and short term debt instruments with a maturity profile generally in line with the Plan’s duration. The performance of the Plan will be benchmarked against the CRISIL Short Term Bond Fund Index.

 

Ashu Suyash, Managing Director and Country Head – India, Fidelity International, said, “Fixed Maturity Plans provide investors with a good alternative to fixed deposits given that they are more tax efficient. This is especially so during volatile times when investors are likely to be more risk averse.”

 

The new fund offer opens for subscription on August 20, 2008 and will close for subscription on August 27, 2008. The fund offers both, retail and institutional plans. The minimum application amount for the retail plan is Rs. 5000 and under the institutional plan, it is Rs. 1crore. The fund would offer a redemption facility on the maturity date without the payment of any load. Redemptions before the maturity date will be subject to an exit load of 2%.

 

 

 

Fidelity Launches Fidelity Flexi Gilt Fund

21 July, 2008

 

Fidelity International’s Indian asset management company announced the launch of its Fidelity Flexi Gilt Fund, an open ended gilt scheme that aims to generate sovereign linked returns primarily through investments in securities issued by the Central / State Government or any security unconditionally guaranteed by the Central / State Government. The NFO for the fund will be open from July 23 – 31, 2008 and thereafter it will open for ongoing purchases and redemptions from August 8, 2008. Sameer Kulkarni is the fund manager of the Fidelity Flexi Gilt Fund, which is benchmarked to the I Sec Composite Gilt Index.

 

Ashu Suyash, Managing Director and Country Head – India, Fidelity International, said: “At a time when investors have turned risk averse and credit concerns abound, gilt funds can fill a critical gap in asset allocation. By definition, government securities carry no credit risk and investing in them through a gilt fund also gives investors the added benefits of liquidity and tax efficiency as compared to RBI bonds, PPF or other similar products.”

 

Sameer Kulkarni, who is the fund manager for the Fidelity Flexi Gilt Fund, said, “In the current tough economic environment, there is a possibility of deterioration in corporate credit quality. Government debt, on the other hand, comes with a sovereign guarantee and there is no risk to capital or interest payments. Moreover, as economic growth comes under pressure, the softening of interest rates has historically been used to act as a stimulus. Investments in high yield government securities have the potential to benefit from such a scenario.”

 

The Fidelity Flexi Gilt Fund will offer Growth and Dividend options. The minimum initial investment is Rs. 5000. The Fund has no entry load, but an exit load of 0.50% will be applicable for redemptions within 6 months from the date of purchase, in case of purchase amount less than Rs. 50, 00, 000 applying First in First Out basis. A switch-out or a withdrawal under SWP or transfer under STP may also attract an exit load / CDSC like any redemption.

 

Investors can invest in the Fidelity Flexi Gilt Fund even through the SIP route with a minimum amount of Rs. 500 per installment with the total of all installments not being less than Rs. 5000/- In addition, the systematic transfer and withdrawal plans are available as well.

 

 

 

24. Max New York Life Launches Insurance-Cum-Savings Product

25 July, 2008

 

Max New York Life Insurance on Thursday launched “Max Vijay”, an insurance-cum-savings product aimed at the underserved segment of society.

 

Announcing the launch, the company’s Chairman, Mr Analjit Singh, said “Max Vijay empowers millions of Indians, who may not be a part of the economic growth scenario that the country is witnessing today, to participate in this revolution and realise their dreams. The business model leverages innovation at every step — be it product design, technology, distribution or service delivery — to ensure a comprehensive offering for the common man.”

 

Max Vijay has been designed keeping in mind the lifestyle, income patterns and needs of the rural and semi-urban population. It empowers millions of Indians to benefit from the economic boom in financial services that was hitherto denied to them, company officials said.

 

The minimum premium payable under the product will be Rs 1,000 and the policy will not lapse as long as there is sufficient value in the account. The company has tied-up with IBM to provide end-to-end technology backbone for fulfilment. Apart from this, they will facilitate the handheld terminal, which enables data transfer to the back-end through GPRS and hence facilitates on-the-spot policy receipt.

 

Meanwhile, Mr Singh told newspersons that it would be business as usual for Max New York Life even though there are indications of the Government pushing for legislative changes to increase the sectoral cap on insurance from 26 per cent to 49 per cent. The company was not looking at a listing for the moment, he said, and added that the joint venture partners have committed to raise the paid-up capital from Rs 1,300 crore to about Rs 3,600 crore in the next two years.

 

 

 

25. LIC Launches Policy For Women

31 July, 2008

 

LIC has launched an insurance policy designed exclusively for women called Jeevan Bharati-I. The policy is essentially a money back policy with a term of 15 or 20 years. Besides critical illness and accident benefit riders, it offers a congenital-disability benefit rider, which ensures the payment of 50 per cent of the rider’s sum assured to the woman policy holder, in the event that she gives birth to a child with congenital disabilities.

 

This benefit is available on the birth of two such congenitally-disabled children during the term of the rider. At the time of maturity, the balance sum assured (after payment of survival benefits already availed) is payable along with reversionary bonuses and final additional bonuses (if any).

 

This policy is available to women in the age group of 18-55 years and the minimum sum assured is Rs 50,000.

 

 

 

26. Sahara MF Launches Banking & Financial Services Fund

29 July, 2008

 

Sahara Mutual Fund on Monday announced the launch of its new scheme "Sahara Banking & Financial Services Fund".

 

The scheme is an open-end sectoral growth fund with investment objective to generate long term capital appreciation through investment in equity and equity related securities of companies in the banking & financial services segments.

 

The new fund offer opens on July 28 and would close for initial subscription on August 26. During the period, the units of the scheme can be subscribed at Rs. 10 per unit (plus applicable load of 2.25 per cent). There is no exit load. The scheme is available in two options - growth and dividend respectively. The minimum application amount is Rs. 5,000.

 

The Scheme would predominantly invest in securities (equities or derivatives of equities or related instruments) that are included in the S & P CNX BANK Index while investing the balance in any other equities, derivatives or related instruments of companies engaged in the business of banking and financial services.

 

At least 75 per cent of the total assets will be invested in equity and equity related securities and a maximum 25 per cent of the total assets may be invested in debt and money market instruments.

 

"The Indian economy is well on its path to become one of the largest economies in the world. The investments in the real economy have been growing at fast pace. The sound banking and financial system of the country is proving to be a catalyst in generating the high GDP growth rate for India," said Naresh Kumar Garg, chief executive officer, Sahara Mutual Fund who believes, there is big potential in this sector.

 

Sahara Mutual Fund currently manages seven equity funds, six debt funds and a good number of fixed maturity plans.

 

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