As part of a strategy to boost growth in India, Aviva Life Insurance Company India Pvt. Ltd. announced a tie up with Centurion Bank of Punjab Ltd. as its 18th Bancassurance partner. With this, the British insurance major's Indian arm has reached a milestone of sorts in the Bancassurance channel with 18 partnerships, the largest ever by any private insurer.

As a means of expanding its presence in India Aviva Life Insurance India has also increased its presence to 353 locations in the country from the current 224 locations. The company, a 26:74 Joint venture (JV) between Aviva Plc and Dabur India Ltd., has recently infused a further Rs1.39bn towards its paid-up capital, which now stands increased at Rs4.50bn.

"The potential for the insurance sector in India is still largely untapped", said Stuart Purdy, Managing Director, Aviva Life Insurance. "The insurance sector accounted for 1.8% of the GDP in 2002, when the industry was thrown open for private sector players. This has increased to 2.5% at present".

“Bancassurance channel contributes close to 66% of Aviva's business in India. This tie-up further strengthens our position in the market”, said Purdy.

“Our aim will be to be among the top five Bancassurance players in the country in the next one year,” said Shailendra Bhandari, Managing Director, Centurion Bank of Punjab. “The tie-up with Aviva Life Insurance will help us achieve our strategic vision of becoming a one-stop shop for all our customer's financial needs”.

All products, including Lifelong, SaveGuard and EasyLife Plus will be available to customers through the Centurion Bank of Punjab. The business model with the new bank partner will be Referral.

(www.indiainfoline.com)