Axa-Bharti lines up MF, non-life foray

MUMBAI: France’s Axa Group will pursue a joint venture in mutual funds and non-life insurance with its life insurance partner Bharti group. The partners have committed Rs 550 crore for the first three years of the life business and have said that funds would not be a constraint.

The JV partners plan to make up for the lost time by ramping growth in 28 metros and large cities simultaneously rather than adopt the sequential approach from Tier I to Tier II towns adopted by rivals.

In an interview with ET, Henri de Castries, chairman of the management board and CEO Axa, said that the partners expected to see the JV become a preferred insurer in three years. “In a race, the horse who is leading before the curve does not necessarily win the race,” said Mr Castries.

To achieve this growth, the JV is adopting a multi-product and multi-distribution strategy. It will also target the 32-million-customer base of Bharati Telecom’s customers.

Earlier, addressing a press conference, Nikhil Chopra, CEO of Bharti Axa Life, said that the bank was in advance talks to bring in a bank as a partner.

Mr Castries said that Axa was also looking at expanding its BPO operations in Pune and Bangalore, which currently do outsourcing for Axa’s UK operations. “It is a very sensitive issue in Europe, but this will go up significantly,” he said.