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India has primarily been a life <keyword id="35450" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="insurance">insurance</keyword> market, currently at $60 billion and growing at 12% every year. General insurance on the other hand is currently a $11.44 billion market and growing at 17% year on year. 
 
Most of us are in general not aware about the features they should consider while buying Insurance. They find it hard to arrive at a decision about choosing the right plan because the information is not readily available. The insurance industry is still behind in its technology platforms.

	 
	<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/exclusive-this-is-how-you-can-get-free-cloud-credits-on-digital-ocean/articleshow/56217172.cms">ALSO READ: Exclusive: This is how you can get free cloud credits on Digital Ocean</a> 
	 
	Coverfox.com is not an Insurance broker using technology. Every policy feature is looked at from multiple perspectives to arrive at its representation for the user in a way he or she understands the best. They have an internal policy scoring engine, which goes through over five dozen parameters for each insurance product, taking into account user demographics and giving personalized scores to each product for every user. 
	 
	<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/uber-reveals-how-indians-used-its-app-to-get-around-in-2016-and-the-results-are-fascinating/articleshow/56202166.cms">ALSO READ: Uber reveals how Indians used its app to get around in 2016, and the results are fascinating</a> 
	 In the wake of demonetization, we see many traditional sectors being affected and financial services haven’t been spared either. <keyword id="824043" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Business-Insider">Business Insider</keyword> got in touch with <keyword id="3000869" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Devendra-Rane">Devendra Rane</keyword>,CTO &amp; Co-Founder, Coverfox to find out how the industry is shaping up after being forced to digitize, for consumer advantage. 
	 “The active Jan Dhan accounts, greater push on Aadhar integration, <keyword id="6358921" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="UPI">UPI</keyword> and other government initiatives have already laid the foundation of a cashless, digital economy. With demonetization, citizens understand the relevance of going digital. Moreover, people are also realizing how easy, secure and fast the digital medium of transacting is.’’ 
	 
	<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/bi-year-ender-five-surprising-startup-acquisitions-in-2016/articleshow/56184747.cms">ALSO READ: BI Year-Ender: Five surprising startup acquisitions in 2016</a> 
	 
	Going digital does bring down operating costs, the benefit of which will be brought down to the consumers in the form of discounts, better services and improved product line-ups. 
	 
	“There are two key areas in which the insurance sector will see impact of demonetization. In the short run, we are already looking at trends where more and more customers are willing to pay the premium online instead of cash to offline agents. If you look at the health insurance sector, hospitals do a lot of transaction in cash, however, with cashless claim settlement, you can go completely cashless. 
	 
	With active Jan Dhan accounts, insurance can be made available to a lot more Indians now. This will also increase insurance penetration and bring premiums down in the long run. 
	 
	“Demonetization has bridged the gap between people who are skeptical of online transactions and the efficient, effective technology that is at their disposal across industries’’ he signs off.

Exclusive: Coverfox tells us why
online insurance is a good idea, especially after demonetisation

“Even though 2015 has been the year of the burgeoning presence of numerous startups, very few of these look towards finance and even fewer look towards <keyword id="35450" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="insurance">insurance</keyword>,” states <keyword id="3064929" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Varun-Dua">Varun Dua</keyword>, CEO and co-founder of <keyword id="1054184" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="online-insurance-portal">online insurance portal</keyword> <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/An-online-insurance-portal-set-up-a-toll-free-helpline-to-help-Chennai-flood-victims-with-their-claims/articleshow/50109916.cms?from=mdr">Coverfox</a>, matter-of-factly. 
 This is what he thinks is one of <keyword id="2821957" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Coverfox">Coverfox</keyword>’s biggest advantage as very little has been done in terms of innovation and as a result there’s massive scope. Investors too have seemed to realize that- going by the figures that the company has managed to raise during its two rounds of founding. 
 
Having managed to get an IRDA Direct Broker license in early 2014, Mumbai-based Coverfox then raised $2 million in its Series A round of founding following it with a Series B round where it raised $12 million in April 2015. That’s not all. In September, the company bagged headlines for receiving an undisclosed amount of investment from <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=narayan+murthy">N. R Narayan </a><a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=narayan+murthy">Murthy’</a>s private investment firm Catamaran Ventures. 
The money he tells me is going to be invested heavily in two core areas- branding and technology. 
 
“It’s not enough that we create a seamless experience for customers looking to buy <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=insurance">insurance</a> online or package information in a way that is easier for them to understand unless we market ourselves well. All of this is no good if no one is aware of our existence and views us as a credible platform. We just launched our first ever TV campaign and going by the response, we’re hoping that should do the trick for us,” he elaborates. 
 
When asked about the biggest challenge affecting the online insurance market which seems to be growing due to the proliferation of smartphones, he is quick to answer that it’s agents. “Substituting agents who are the biggest reason the insurance market is predominately viewed as an offline player is a necessity. However, what helps is that with the number of career opportunities that are available right now, no one really wants to become a ‘LIC agent’ anymore. It’s being said that we’re losing close to 100,000 agents every year. It’s possible to earn more being an Ola or an Uber driver than by being an agent.” 
 
Another challenge he belies is undoubtedly the strict regulations which result in slowing down the pace of innovation. “Even though these regulations do help us as well, but sometimes they can cost us. For example, I can’t offer discounts even ifg my economics are in place as the pricing is also regulated,” he says. 
 
But, he’s hoping that these challenges fall short of stopping customers from, buying insurance online. Infact, he feels that if a customer is looking for a seamless transaction experience they should buy insurance on their portal as they have integrated almost 35 insurance companies on their portal offer better pricing than what’s offered offline. 
 
Additionally, what he thinks will benefit Coverfox in the long run is that the company is very focused on what it intends to achieve and as of now there are no plans of diversifying or acquiring. There are however plans of tie-ups. 
 Recently, Coverfox tied up with <keyword id="1945738" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Cardekho">CarDekho</keyword> to offer customers <keyword id="35490" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="car-insurance">car insurance</keyword> and it is the used car market that they’re going to be heaving focusing on, as they believe that insurance of cars is a mandatory activity and hence the company has announcements of three tie-ups with large car-portals in the pipeline. 
 
“The aim is to be the leader in the car insurance market, very soon,” he signs off.

Varun Dua, CEO and co-founder of online insurance portal
Coverfox says the finance startup space holds humongous potential

2015 has been a momentous occasion for the burgeoning Indian <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=startups">startups</a>, and Prime Minister <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=narendra+modi">Narendra Modi’s</a> <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=startup+india">Startup India</a> initiative was the icing on the cake. 
 With policies devised especially keeping the need of <keyword id="6362513" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Startups">startups</keyword> in mind and with aid from founders of startups themselves, it’s a given that they should be happy and content at the moment. 
 
However, that’s not the case. 
 This could be blamed on the fact that a few of the policies announced at the <keyword id="3003094" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Startup-India">Startup India</keyword> event were quite ambiguous, not to forget generic. Thus, founders have some additional expectations from Arun Jaitley’s <keyword id="2783177" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Budget-2016">Budget 2016</keyword> so that their demands relating to their personal sectors are more or less met. 
 According to Rajiv Sharma, MD and co-founder of <keyword id="3186078" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="dPronto">dPronto</keyword>, a last-mile delivery and logistics company that was in the new for typing up with e-commerce giant Flipkart, the need of the hour is adequate budget resources allocated for the social sector. 
 
“While it is important to boost the confidence to global investors by way of structural reforms and find a way to achieve the fiscal deficit target of 3.5 per cent in FY17, there shoudl also be high focus on inclusive growth and adequate measures to ensure upliftment of the rural sector, creation of more employment opportunities, and enriching the lives of women, children, senior citizens and people below the poverty line,” he believes. 
 
However, for Varun Dua, CEO and co-founder of <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=coverfox">Coverfox,</a> a one of a kind online insurance portal, the key priority remains in deregulation and allowing<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=FDI"> FDI</a> in fintech. “Most fintech businesses like payment banks / insurance have heavy dependence on domestic capital which is mostly risk averse and thus scarce.” 
 
The Budget should also consider relaxation in structures which make private secondary transactions more liquid from a tax or complication perspective, Dua adds. 
 
Then, there’s Pankaj Vermani, the CEO of <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=CLOVIA">Clovia</a>, an e-commerce website which focuses on lingerie, who believes that it should be seen that the boom experienced by the e-commerce industry in 2015 should continue, at any cost. 
 
“To ensure that the growth continues the <keyword id="6360189" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Union-Budget">Union budget</keyword> needs to provide greater tax clarity especially related to jurisdiction / taxability issues. We are also hoping for a positive clarification for the Central Sales tax on transactions such as cash on delivery, which involve inter-state movement of goods.In addition, today every region has different laws for eCommerce. To govern the sector better one needs better definition of the category and a centralized law," he signs off. 
 
Image credit: Indiatimes

Budget 2016: This is what startups are expecting. Are you listening, Arun Jaitley?

<ul><li>Shwetank Verma of <keyword id="11927726" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="indian-insurtech-association" source="Orion">Indian Insurtech Association</keyword> highlighted that the online insurtech segment would create 1 lakh direct jobs by 2025.</li><li>Shishir Mankad of <keyword id="4893676" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="praxis-global-alliance" source="Orion">Praxis Global Alliance</keyword> expects that 2.5-3 lakh employment opportunities, both direct and indirect, would be created by insurtech industry by 2024.</li><li>Auto, health and life are expected to continue to be a big chunk of online insurance sales in India.</li></ul>Online insurance sellers in India are expected to create 250,000-300,000 jobs in the next three years as the insurtech sector is at the cusp of breakthrough growth. Shishir Mankad, managing partner and head of financial services at Praxis Global Alliance, told Business Insider that this would include both direct and indirect employment opportunities across verticals — technology as well as functional roles in product design and analytics, customer journey design, automation as well as fulfillment roles in sales and distribution, claims processing and more. The segment is expected to generate part-time earning opportunities for another 2-3 million people in the same time frame, Mankad added. Meanwhile, Shwetank Verma, co-founder of Indian Insurtech Association and founder of investment firm <keyword id="6403908" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="leo-capital" source="Orion">Leo Capital</keyword>, in an email interaction with Business Insider said that the online insurance sellers in India are expected to double their premium by 2025 and create over a lakh direct jobs. “The insurance distribution in India has been changing in a very different way. There was a time when distribution was largely a feet on street model. LIC [Life Insurance Corporation] alone has roughly 1.5 million agents and the rest of the industry put together nearly another 0.5 million. There are a similar number of executives working as employees in the industry. However, over the past 5 to 7 years attempts, have been made to create digital distribution infrastructure. These efforts will increase in the next few years,” Sanjib Jha, chief executive of Coverfox said. Indian online insurance players include initial public offering (IPO)-bound <keyword id="696009" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="policybazaar" source="Orion">PolicyBazaar</keyword>, Digit Insurance, BankBazaar, Coverfox and others. ACKO General Insurance is one of the startups that issues their own insurance policies instead of being a third-party seller. <keyword id="3067182" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="dexter-capital" source="Orion">Dexter Capital</keyword>’s founder Devendra Agrawal, in an email interaction with Business Insider, noted that the Indian insurtech segment is a very large subsector of fintech and is largely dominated by traditional companies. There is very little innovation and user friendliness in the current offering, but there is scope for greater innovation as more startups emerge in the segment. He added that the new insurtech segment is likely to focus on three things. First, new product launches. Second, a more user-friendly interface and processes. Third, newer models would be introduced when it comes to insurance selling. Shwetank Verma of Indian Insurtech Association reflected a similar view, highlighting that there is a lot of scope for innovation in the insurtech sector and new categories like cyber insurance, <a href="https://content.naic.org/cipr_topics/topic_parametric_disaster_insurance.htm">parametric insurance </a>— a non-traditional insurance product that offers pre-specified payouts based upon a trigger event — and would gain more traction this decade by 2030. “Most of the insurtech action has been in terms of distribution of policies and a couple of insurers who are digital-first. While these categories will certainly see growth, our view is that the sector is at a tipping point. We expect to see a lot more action on other parts of the insurance value chain, be it underwriting or risk management or claims processing, or product design such as micro-insurance or embedded products,” Mankad of Praxis Global Alliance said. Even as the Indian insurtech sector progresses, health, auto and life insurance will continue to be the major chunk of insurance sales both online and offline, as per industry experts. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/apps/news/google-bans-eight-dangerous-crypto-apps-find-out-if-you-have-them-on-your-phone/articleshow/85553621.cms">Google bans eight dangerous crypto apps – find out if you have them on your phone</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/india-continues-to-lead-in-ipv6-expansion-with-a-61-23-adoption-rate-globally/articleshow/85554413.cms">India continues to lead in IPv6 expansion with a 61.23% adoption rate globally</a>

Online insurance sellers expected to create up to 300,000 jobs in the next three years

<ul><li><keyword id="18635" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Amazon">Amazon</keyword> led a new round of funding for <keyword id="4943836" type="LOCATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Acko">Acko</keyword>, a digital insurance startup.</li><li>Acko’s main competition comes from sites like PolicyBachat, PolicyBazaar and Easypolicy. </li><li>Flipkart, Amazon’s primary challenger in the Indian market, has its own insurance portal called Sabin Advisors. </li></ul>After losing out on its offer to buy 60% stake in Flipkart, Amazon continues undeterred with its investments in India. The company is restarting its efforts by investing in Acko, a digital insurance startup based in the country. In its new round of funding, Acko managed to raise ₹809 million ($12 million) and also brought on a new investor, Ashish Dhawan, the founder of a private equity firm called ChrysCap. Reports of the US retail giant backing the startup have been <a href="https://tech.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/internet/amazon-may-back-online-insurance-startup-acko/62322035">brewing</a> since January this year. Earlier, it was speculated that Amazon would come on board as a part of a new financing round of a total of ₹1 billion ($15 million). The actual amount may not be the complete billion, but it does bring Acko’s grand total up to ₹2.8 billion ($42 million). Not to mention, it’s the <a href="https://tech.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/startups/amazon-leads-12m-funding-round-in-acko/64342454">first</a> investment by Amazon in India’s insurance sector. Founded by <keyword id="3064929" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Varun-Dua">Varun Dua</keyword>, one of the co-founders of Coverfox (an insurance comparison site), Acko’s main <a href="https://www.owler.com/company/ackogeneralinsurance#competitors">competition</a> comes from sites like PolicyBachat, PolicyBazaar, Easypolicy and PolicyX.com. At this point, they’re all generating more revenue than Acko. To its credit, it did <a href="https://www.owler.com/reports/acko/acko--ola--acko-partner-to-create-in-trip-insuranc/1522914840916">partner</a> with <keyword id="6354720" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="ola">Ola</keyword> in April earlier this year to provide an ‘in-trip insurance’ program. Regardless of whether users chose to ride a cab, auto or e-rickshaw, users could opt-in for insurance that would cover the loss of property, medical expenses, ambulance transportation cover etc. The company claimed it was the first of its kind. In the future, it’s <a href="https://tech.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/startups/amazon-leads-12m-funding-round-in-acko/64342454">possible</a> that Amazon is looking to bring those financial products to retail consumers as well. That’s probably one of the reasons why Flipkart was <a href="https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/amazon-talks-invest-rs-100-crore-online-insurance-startup-acko-technologies-74073">interested</a> in investing in Acko as well, but the deal seems to have landed in Amazon’s lap instead. That isn’t to say that Flipkart isn’t getting into insurance as well. The company was recently acquired by <keyword id="80487" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="walmart">Walmart</keyword>, and had earlier <a href="https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/info-tech/flipkarts-bansals-diversify-kick-off-new-venture-sabin-advisors/article10007641.ece">set up</a> its own insurance business and venture capital funding called ‘Sabin Advisors’ in December, last year. Acko already has backers like Catamaran Ventures, Hemendra Kothari of <keyword id="83987" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="DSP-Blackrock">DSP Blackrock</keyword> and Accel Partners, among others. The plan is that the company’s interface will completely be online, but for insurance claims there will operate offline centres.

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Exclusive: Coverfox tells us why online insurance is a good idea, especially after demonetisation

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Varun Dua, CEO and co-founder of online insurance portal Coverfox says the finance startup space holds humongous potential

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Budget 2016: This is what startups are expecting. Are you listening, Arun Jaitley?

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