ICICI Prudential Life Insurance settled Rs.982 crore worth of COVID-19 related claims during 9M-FY2022

ICICI Prudential Life Insurance’s claim settlement ratio stood at 97.9% during FY2021 and the Company took 1.4 days, on an average, to settle non-investigated death claims.

For the 9 months-ended FY2022, the Company has settled Rs. 982 crore worth of Covid-19 related claims.

To make customer service including the claims settlement process faster, safer, and more convenient for customers, especially during the pandemic, the Company is using digital technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning, Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and Optical Character Recognition (OCR).

Technologies such as RPA and OCR are also being used for underwriting, claims assessment, selling or renewing policies, and offering customized offers. Customers can use any of the digital touch-points such as WhatsApp, Mobile App, Website, Chatbot LiGo, etc. to initiate and conclude service requests, upload required documents and download premium paid certificates.

Besides, the mobile app developed by the Company enables customers to choose the layout of the dashboard for ease of access of top transaction options. For instance, if the customer wants to see the premium amount due or the fund value frequently, they can rearrange those tabs on the landing page itself.

Most importantly, the customer can access the policy details on the mobile app even in the absence of network. The Company has developed a multi-channel distribution network and service architecture which includes Company branches, call centre, email, website, and mobile app enabling customers to interact with the Company as per their preference.

The Company offers over 3,00,000 touch-points to make renewal premium payments, covering approximately 95% of the pin-codes in the country.

To enable customers to adhere to social distancing norms during the pandemic, the Company accelerated the use of digital tools and transitioned to a virtual mode of selling life insurance and delivering service to customers.

Currently, over 90% of service transactions are done digitally in the self-help mode, reflecting the ease offered by the digital platform. A steadfast focus on customer-centricity has enabled the Company to provide a hassle-free claims experience and post one of the best claim settlement ratios in the industry on the back of new-age technology solutions implemented.

Using technology as an enabler, the Company hand holds customers right from the time of conducting suitability analysis to match products to the needs of customers, including quote generation, purchase journey, and the post sales servicing requests. These and other initiatives have enabled the Company to posta 13 th month persistency of 84.8%for 9M-FY2022, one of the best in the industry. A high persistency ratio reflects satisfied customers, satisfied distributors, and profitable growth.

Innovations and digitalisation of processes has enabled the Company to issue 65 lakh policies in just 3 days. It is the only life insurer in the country to achieve this milestone.

The pandemic has necessitated the need to have a continued life cover and to ensure this, the Company has deployed a multi-lingual, speech recognition and conversational AI tool ‘Humanoid’ for renewal premium reminder calling. Humanoid can make calls to over 50,000 customers in an hour.

This solution has yielded good results with over 87% of customers contacted agreeing to pay renewal premiums.

Ashish Rao, EVP & Chief – Customer Experience & Operations, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance said, “All our digitalisation initiatives are aimed at empowering customers and providing them with a hassle-free experience. Technology has made processes efficient and ensured customers can access information on their policies from the comfort and safety of their homes and over 90% of service requests are now of self-help in nature. Claims is the moment of truth and digitalisation has ensured a friction-free claim settlement process. As a customer- centric organization, we have adopted the ‘Customer First’ philosophy and have been settling all Covid-19 related claims with sensitivity and speed. Our digital enablers such as WhatsApp, Mobile App, Website, and Chatbot LiGo provide a safe and convenient route to lodge and track claims.”

“For FY2021, we had a claims settlement ratio of 97.9% and the average time taken to settle anon-investigated death claim was 1.4 days, which we believe is one of the best in the industry. Financial protection is the need of every citizen and life insurance is an excellent financial inclusion tool. As part of our vision to build an enduring institution that serves the protection and long-term savings needs of customers with sensitivity, it gives us immense satisfaction that we were able to settle all genuine claim requests expeditiously during the pandemic,” He added.