Liberty Videocon General Insurance commences operations in India

           Launches an array of retail and commercial products

           Initial capital at Rs 350 crore is one of the highest in the general insurance space

        Liberty Mutual Insurance, the world's 6^th largest P&C insurance Group, to 

            provide best-in-class product & technology experience to the new entity

Mr Roopam Asthana, CEO, Liberty Videocon and Bhasker Natarajan, Executive Vice President, Liberty International

Mumbai, February 25, 2013: Liberty Videocon General Insurance Company Limited, a joint venture between the Videocon Industries Limited and Liberty Citystate holdings PTE Ltd, part of US-based Liberty Mutual Insurance group, today announced the start of operations in India with plans to launch a comprehensive portfolio of retail and commercial products.

Headquartered in Mumbai, Liberty Videocon General Insurance has commenced business with an initial capital of Rs. 350 crore, one of the highest for a start-up company in the General Insurance industry. The company received license to operate in the general insurance industry from Insurance Regulatory Development Authority (IRDA) in May 2012. With 26 per cent stake, Liberty Citystate Holding Pte Ltd will provide the Indian arm inputs on technical functions and extend expertise on managing emerging markets. On the other hand, Videocon Industries with its 74 per cent stake will provide access to extensive distribution network across India and share knowledge on consumer behavior.

The move marks the entry of Boston-based Liberty Mutual Insurance — the third largest property and casualty insurer in the US and the sixth largest in the world, and Videocon Industries into India's fast-growing financial services space. Liberty Mutual Insurance ranks 84th on the Fortune 100 list of largest corporations in the US, based on 2011 revenue. In 2011, Liberty Mutual registered revenues of over USD 34Billion.

With USD 8.6 billion in international business, Liberty Mutual Insurance is one of the leading players in several emerging economies, including Venezuela, Brazil, Colombia, Thailand, China and Vietnam. With more than 45,000 employees and 900 offices worldwide, the Group has expanded its presence globally through acquisitions.

Bhasker Natarajan, Executive Vice President, Liberty International; Chief Operating Officer — India Region; and General Manager — Global Best Practices and Global Safety , said, "Strong growth in emerging economies has not only triggered higher demand for financial services; but also altered customer attitudes to products and service expectations. They are increasingly demanding simplicity, transparency and right assessment of risk. Increasingly, more insurance products are 'bought' rather than 'sold', marking a fundamental shift in customer behavior. This has led insurance players to re-visit the value chain and their portfolio mix. India is not an exception to these developments. There is tremendous unfulfilled potential in this area."

"Liberty Mutual Insurance brings to India a compelling combination of a differentiated approach to service, aligned with proven, disciplined underwriting philosophy and strong actuarial capability. We believe this will position Liberty Videocon extremely well in the Indian insurance space," he added.

Liberty Mutual's experience in emerging markets, best-in-class products, technological expertise and management competence - coupled with Videocon's extensive reach — is a distinctive proposition in the category, Mr. Natarajan said.

Speaking on the Indian general insurance market, Mr Roopam Asthana, CEO, Liberty Videocon, said, "At a robust CAGR of over 15 per cent, Indian general insurance market is poised to cross $ 50 billion in Gross Written Premium (GWP) by 2020. By 2014-15, motor and health insurance categories are likely to grow to 40 per cent and 28 per cent, respectively. Initiatives on the regulatory front like dismantling of the Motor Third Party Pool, de-tariffication of pricing combined with freedom in wordings, proposed changes in bancassurance and proposed amendments in Motor Vehicle (MV) Act, will enable the sector to grow in depth and scale."

The Company plans to introduce all major retail (Motor and Health) and commercial (Fire, Engineering and Group Health) products. "Liberty Videocon will focus on a balanced mix of commercial and retail products. We intend to expand business by following a 'Set-up, Stabilize, Study and Expand' model. The company plans to take up the number of branches to over 25 next year. To ensure efficient distribution of products, the company will create a wide network of 'affinities' and also leverage bancassurance opportunities," Mr Asthana added. He also stated that the company is focused on building its business through the intermediaries.

In order to ensure speedy processing of insurance policies right from underwriting of the risk to claim processing, the Company will focus on `owning' processes. It is setting up in-house call center to cater to all customer needs. For better customer life cycle management and retention, the Company is contemplating to create strong data analytics capabilities.

Currently, the Company has a team of 150 professionals and is soon set to hire 200 more in near future. Besides Mumbai, the Company has operations in Delhi and Bangalore. In the near future the company will add another 5 branches.