Insurance agents pin hopes on Q4 to join million dollar club

Going by business generated by insurers so far this year,the best the insurers hope is to at least hold on to the last years targets of MDRT which seems a daunting task. The private sector,which comprises 21 life insurance companies,has not experienced positive growth in their new business premium collections so far this year. While the lone public sector insurer seems to be raking in all the new business,the private sector is trying hard to fight the odds and post better collections in the last quarter.

SBI Life,which topped the list with 2,677 agents in 2009,expects to not only retain the top slot but also witness a marginal growth in the number. This is a challenging year for the insurance industry. Usually the first quarter of the calendar year (January-March) is very productive and therefore,the pressure of sales eases by the last quarter (October-December). But this year,the initial momentum was missing and now there is a lot of pressure (on agents) to meet the targets set. We are monitoring the situation very closely and hope to retain last years position, said Rajiv Kumar Gupta,executive director,SBI Life.

According to SBI Life officials,unlike last year,the company doesnt have a considerable number of agents as of now who qualify for MDRT. But it is working hard to make sure that the prospective agents (who have done business of more than Rs 15 lakh so far) are able to achieve the target.