Mahindra Insurance Brokers unveils pay-as-you-can model to increase reach

Mahindra Insurance Brokers (MIBL) has introduced Pay-As-You-Can, a digitally-enabled model for insurance distribution. It will provide customers access to insurance products with the flexibility of paying premium as per their affordability. It has tied up with Citrus Pay to provide a short-term personal accident cover from Religare Health Insurance as a value addition to loyal customers. It will soon make the model available to other service providers.

“We see this as the insurance equivalent of sachets in the FMCG sector. Just as sachets expanded the FMCG market, we expect this more affordable form of insurance to grow the market,” said Jaideep Devare, MD.

For starters, the firm is tying up with digital wallet companies for providing small amounts of insurance. “We have tied up with Citrus Pay where customers can get personal accident cover of Rs 1 lakh for one month against loyalty points for shopping. We plan to have similar tie-ups with other wallet companies,” said Devare.

Besides this, the company is looking at providing short-term cover for transit insurance by tying up with other aggregators. Other plans on the anvil are a cover for small and medium enterprises and hospital cash cover for individuals. Rather than annual contracts, the company is looking at earn-and-pay mode.

MIBL can design and distribute policies but it needs an insurance company to underwrite them through a master policy. For insurance companies, coming up with low-value products on their own is not feasible as the cost of distribution turns out to be high. Reliance General Insurance and Future Generali offer customers the option of paying health insurance through the equated monthly instalment option, but they need to commit to annual contracts.