One Plus One is Eleven proved right in Bihar

बिहार चुनाव के परिणाम आ चुके हैं । व् उसके साथ ही विश्लेषण ।

अगर पूरे इस चुनाव को देखा जाए तो पहली बार यह लगा की विपक्ष पार्टियों की एकता कितनी महत्वपूर्ण होती है । २०१४ के लोक सभा चुनाव में बिखरा हुआ विपक्ष का फायदा भाजपा व् मोदी को हुआ । वोटों का विश्लेषण भी यही कुछ इशारा कर रहा था । परन्तु इसकी असली परीक्षा  बिहार चुनावों  के दौरान हुआ । इखट्टा हुआ विपक्ष ने एक बड़ा उलटफेर कर दिखाया जो शायद भाजपा ने भी नहीं सोचा होगा ।

अब देखने वाली बात यह होगी की क्या यह फार्मूला अब हर राज्य में दोहराया जाएगा ? बंगाल और तमिल नाडु में तो इसका कोई महत्व नहीं होगा क्यूंकि इन् दोनों राज्यों में भाजपा का सरकार बना लेना थोड़ा कठिन है । बहुत ही अछा प्रदशान रहा तो भाजपा इन् राज्यों में एक मज़बूत विपक्ष की तरह उदय हो सकती है । तो तृणमूल व् वामपंथी इखट्टे हों या अम्मा व् करूणानिधि हों ऐसा लगता नहीं है ।

अब इस फार्मूला का फिर से टेस्ट पंजाब व् उत्तर प्रदेश में होगा जोकि अभी एक से डेढ़ साल दूर हैं । इस दौरान भाजपा को भी समय मिल जाएगा की वह इसका कोई तोड़ निकाल सके ।

पर मेरे हिसाब से पंजाब और उत्तर प्रदेश के चुनाव में इखट्टा विपक्ष करना उतना आसान नहीं होगा । मेरे हिसाब से इन् चुनावों में भारतीय राजनीती के कई समीकरण बदलेंगे । पंजाब जहां पे भाजपा अकालियों के साथ मिल कर चल रहे हैं, शायद अब किनारे होक अपने आप में चुनाव लड़ने का फैसला ले । अगर ऐसा हुआ तो पंजाब की जनता के लिए विपक्ष में तीन पार्टियां होंगी - कांग्रेस , आम आदमी पार्टी व् भाजपा । किसी भी तरह का घटजोध चुनावों के बाद ही बनेगा जैसे कुछ हद्द तक दिल्ली में हुआ ।

उत्तर प्रदेश में भी सपा व् बसपा तभी इकहट्टी होंगी अगर २०१७ तक भाजपा केंद्र में मज़बूत लगी । अगर मोदी सरकार कमज़ोर दिखी तो उत्तर प्रदेश में भी जनता के लिए कई पार्टियां होंगी चुनने के लिए जो भाजपा के लिए शायद एक अच्छी खबर होगी । भाजपा यह भी प्रयास करेगी की बसपा य स्पा के साथ अंदरूनी घटजोर कर ले २०१७ से पहले ताकि वह बिहार जैसे परिणाम की तरफ न जाए ।

अंत: यही कहना चाहता हूँ की आने वाला समय भारतीय राजनीती में बेहद रोमांचक होने वाला है । तीसरा विपक्ष कांग्रेस के साथ या उसके बिना बनेगा की नहीं अथवा एक टूटा हुआ विपक्ष फिर से भाजपा व् मोदी का सूर्य भारतीय राजनीती के आसमान में उगेगा इसका पता २०१७ में ही चलेगा । 

जय भारत । 

Indrani Mukherjee - testimony of Irresponsible and Sensationalist Indian media

Indrani Mukherjee can has brought the negative side of Indian Media Sensationalism to the shore. Imagine, the kind of coverage it is getting on all media platforms from TV to Social Media as if it hurts the nation as a whole.

Though the fact is that this case is like many other cases of Cold Blooded murder which our security and intelligence agencies solve day & night. 

During the same period when Indrani Mukherjee saga has been running on TV, a brave soldier has laid down his life in Kashmir before killing 11 militants in as many days, Financial Markets of the country have meltdown like anything, US Dollar has reached 67, continuous shelling from across the border, someone also won Khel Ratna awards and many more events which has impacted the nation. But those are nowhere on the screen :(

I feel Indian Media should act more maturely now. If they won't then either they will lose viewership to other forms such as TV Soaps, Knowledge channels such as Discovery or may be a global media giant which will find this vacuum to enter into India and deliver somewhat better content.

Indian Media should remember that people like Sensationalism to an extent. Steadily, people have begun to realize that Indian Media drives content with minimum accountability. And in times to come, the bread & butter of Indian Media will be given by raising questions which impact common man lives, not by showcasing what size of Briefcase had bought by Indrani or to whom she had talked to.

Hope Intellect Prevails...

Secure your family with Edelweiss Tokio Life - MyLife+

Edelweiss Tokio Life Insurance - a new age life insurance player in India - has recently launched a new online term insurance plan named "Edelweiss Tokio Life -MyLife+". Apart from being cost effective and high age coverage, the plan is customized according to Indian family structure wherein the family often struggles to meet their day-to-day financial needs, after the death of policy holder.

This term life insurance plan offers three attractive pay-out options to the nominee, in case of policy holder's death - Lump-sum benefit, Income Benefit and third one, which provides combination of both Lump-sum and Income Benefit. Under Lump-sum option, nominee can get benefit equal to the Sum Assured. Nominee can also opt for Income Benefit option in which he/she will receive 1% of Sum Assured every month for next 130 months. This option ensures that family gets funds regularly to meet their daily financial needs and hence, limiting the financial impact on them in case of death of earning member. Under the third option which is a combination of both Lump-sum and Income Benefit, nominee can choose to take partial amount as Lump-sum and remaining in the form of monthly pay-outs.

Edelweiss Tokio Life MyLife+ plan comes with several attractive features:

• Provides life cover up to the age of 80 which ensure your family is adequately protected for longer period of time.
• Premium is competitive as compared to other plans and offers discount if you opt for Large Sum Assured.
• Lower Premium for female lives, which is equivalent to 3 years age setback to Male Rate.
• Enhance your protection cover by offering additional riders such as Accidental Death, Accidental Total and Permanent disability & waiver of premium.

Other companies such as ICICI Prudential, LIC and Aegon Religare also offer term plans. But what makes Edelweiss Tokio Life MyLife+, a best life insurance policy, is the pay-out design (called as Income Replacement) which ensures that family keeps on getting regular "financial liquidity" even after the demise of policy holder.

Given below is the comparison of few popular term plans:

Feature	Edelweiss Tokio  (MyLife+ Plan)	ICICI Prudential (iProtect Plan)	Aegon Religare ​(iTerm Plan)	LIC  (e-Term Plan)
Min-Max Entry Age (in years)	18-60	20-65	18-60	18-60
Max Maturity Age (in years)	80	75	65	75
Max Policy Term (in years)	60+ (80 minus entry age)	30 years	25 years	35
Pay-out Options (On Death)	1. Lump Sum 2. Income Benefit 3. Combination of Lump sum and Income Benefit.	Lump Sum	Lump Sum	Lump Sum

Free Look Period

Edelweiss Tokio Life MyLife+ plan provides a 'Free Look Period' in which you can return the policy within 15 days from receiving the policy. For policies bought through Distance Marketing, free look up period will be provided for 30 days. Premium will be refunded after deducting stamp duty and cost of medical expenses, if any.

To get life insurance quotes for you or to know more about Edelweiss Tokio Life MyLife+ plan, click here.

Low Penetration of Insurance in India

India is currently in an unusual state. Despite world’s second largest populous country and with a huge young population (~65% of population lies between 15-35 years age bracket), the inclination towards Insurance has been lopsided towards denial.

 

The recent article in Business Standard articulates this fact. The article states that Insurance industry in India has grown from 2.71% to 3.96% in the last decade. This figure becomes further astonishing when we consider General Insurance (which includes Health Insurance) where the penetration has gone up from 0.56% to 0.78% in the last decade. 

 

 

The biggest reason behind this state of denial by people of India is lack of reforms in this sector. From reforms, I am not talking in context of bringing foreign firms in India and hope the wheel will turn on its own. Rather, what is missing is greater transparency, lack of accountability and pushing the sector on every nook of the country, just the same way banking and telecom made the inroads.

 

If we move back to 2003-2004, Insurance industry saw several Multi National Insurance firms entering Indian markets with various products, built mostly around ULIPs and Market based. But IRDA, which is the governing authority, did not manage the products offered by the private insurers.

 

The charges were exorbitant, and hence, returns sacrificed. The companies built big budgeted marketing strategies and products were pushed down investors’ throats. With the slump in 2008, the fund values of these policies fall drastically by as much as 60-70% in various schemes. IRDA never took any steps to curb the loot by the insurance companies. Though it has now acted through series of steps taken between 2010 and 2013, but by then, investors’ sentiments have been jolted.

 

Let us try to evaluate various factors behind this negativism towards Insurance and how the sector stakeholders can manage them:

 

Make Plans more transparent towards Risk & Return

The biggest problem that an investor faces before buying a plan is lack of clarity on what would be his risk and return on the investment? Though plan brochure speaks about it, but it never gives a clear picture on the kind of returns. We all can see various marketing SMS / Emails speaking about getting several crores by putting few thousand bugs every month!! But the investor is now much mature after being looted in last decade and hence, shows denial towards such plans. I feel what is required here is to clearly speaking about following in the plan brochure:

 

• What exactly are the charges towards providing Risk Cover?? It should not be “X” Rs. per “1000” of Sum Assured. It should clearly spell out in the terms of % of his premium amount. IRDA can design a sheet with various such details for the customer, which will be signed by the investor.
• How much percentage (%) of his premium going towards investing in various segments like Equity Markets, Bonds, etc?
• What are the commission charges paid by the customer to the agent / company?
• Is his Capital guaranteed?
• The Guaranteed Returns should be % of Premium amount and not Sum Assured, as various plans speak because that creates ambiguity.

Commission should increase with policy retention and not vice versa

Currently, huge chunk of commission is given on the first premium and then it gradually decreases with each year. This push agents towards hard selling by pushing the policy inside investors’ throat without considering whether he has the appetite to digest it? Thus, IRDA should make commission structure, just the opposite. The agents should receive less commission in initial 1/3 of the policy tenure and then a gradual increase. I am pretty sure that policy lapsation wil drastically reduced and agents would be actively involved with the customers towards policy renewals.

 

Stringent Regulations and Penalty Clauses for Mis-selling

The insurance in India is not ‘simplified’. The agents too command higher commission stating it is a complex product. But the ground reality is that 9 out of 10 agents even don’t know the basics of insurance. The examination is easy to pass. There are set of questions which is gulped down agents’ throat before sitting out for exam. He clears it without understanding risks & rewards and then becomes “puppet” in the hands of insurance companies. During training sessions, these companies give hard core marketing lessons, often mixing projections with real returns like a fine cocktail and then this cocktail is shared with investors. But like any other hard drink, it end up as an unhealthy product for investor’s investments. Thus what is required is a more stringent guidelines on companies as well as on agents towards mis-selling.

 

• Put the onus on insurance companies to write more vocally in policy brochures on whom to approach in case of mis-selling.
• Define the maximum time needed to resolve complaint.
• Make financial and other punishments more stringent on both insurance companies as well as agents.

Make Insurance Affordable and push it to every nook of the country

Insurance, though is inherent need of any person on earth, yet is not projected this way among the masses. It is still a “push” product as there is a general denial tendency among masses towards insurance. What is the need of the hour is “concentrated campaign” by both govt as well as insurance companies to promote the same, especially in the lower strata of the population where it is needed the most.

 

IRDA should ask every Insurance company to introduce a low-cost Insurance product for lower strata of the population. Also ask the companies to allocate atleast 20% of their marketing budget in promotion of these products for say next 5 years. Simplify the products and make it as easy to sell just like any other financial product such as Banking. This is only possible, if people start understanding “What is Insurance” and for the same, what is need of the hour is the educational campaign. Once people realize that Insurance as a product is as necessary as Bank account and there are plans which are available for say, as low as 100 Rs premium for a month / quarter, then I am sure it will gain widespread and we may achieve target like 20% of the population in next decade or so.

 

This is my view-point on this issue. if you have any comments, then kindly contact us or email us at pcj@growyourpaisa.com

एक मदारी की जीत

एक मदारी की जीत ।

एक मदारी आया, अपने झोले में खूब सारे फल लाया,

दिखा दिखा उसने सब बन्दरों के मन को खूब ललचाया,

"अब सबको मिलेगा फल, अब सबको मिलेगा  बेहतर कल

सब रहेंगे मिल के अब न होगी कोई फ़िक्र।"

पर मदारी की भूख बड़ी थी, उसकी टीम छूप के पीछे खड़ी थी,

जैसे ही बन्दर पास आये उन्होंने जाल बिछाया, 

सबको फंसा पीपल के पेड़ से लटकाया

मदारी ज़ोर से हंसा और बंदरों को बोला,

"हर साल मैं जंगल में आता हूँ, तुमको फल दिखा पकड़ ले जाता हूँ,

तुम कब समझोगे यह फल नहीं जाल है, यह नासमझ ही तुम्हारी हार है । "

यह सुन बंदरों ने एक दुसरे को विवश भरी मंद आँखों से देखा और कहा

"हमारी नादानी शायद समझ से बड़ी है,

इसलिए हमारी किस्मत शायद इस देश की तरह आज इस पेड़ से लटकी पड़ी है,

इस पेड़ से लटकी पड़ी है ।।  "