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A project report submitted to the GITAM UNIVERSITY in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of
MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION PROJECT REPORT BY SIMHADRI SANDEEP LAGUDU (1225108149) Under the guidance of Dr. U.V. Adinarayana Rao Associate Professor
those to go in the days when it was Business as usual, companies could succeed by producing and supporting them with hard selling and heavy advertising. This was called Marketing. Marketing is the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion and distribution of ideas, goods and services to create exchange that satisfy individual and organizational goals. According to AMA, Marketing consists of the business activities that direct the flow of goods and services from producer to consumer. Marketing is defined by the American Marketing Association [AMA] as "the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large." The term developed from the original meaning which referred literally to going to a market to buy or sell goods or services. Seen from a systems point of view, sales process engineering views marketing as "a set of processes that are interconnected and interdependent with other functions, whose methods can be improved using a variety of relatively new approaches." The Chartered Institute of Marketing defines marketing as "the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably." A different concept is the value-based marketing which states the role of marketing to contribute to increasing shareholder value. In this context, marketing is defined as "the management process that seeks to maximise returns to shareholders by developing relationships with valued customers and creating a competitive advantage." Marketing practice tended to be seen as a creative industry in the past, which included advertising, distribution and selling. However, because the academic study of marketing makes extensive use of social sciences,
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psychology,
sociology,
mathematics,
economics,
anthropology
and
neuroscience, the profession is now widely recognized as a science, allowing numerous universities to offer Master-of-Science (MSc) programmes. The overall process starts with marketing research and goes through market segmentation, business planning and execution, ending with pre and post-sales promotional activities. It is also related to many of the creative arts. The marketing literature is also adept at re-inventing itself and its vocabulary according to the times and the culture.
1.1.1Evolution of marketing:
An orientation, in the marketing context, relates to a perception or attitude a firm holds towards its product or service, essentially concerning consumers and end-users. Throughout history marketing has changed considerably as consumer tastes are changing faster. The marketing orientation evolved from earlier orientations namely the production orientation, the product orientation and the selling orientation. With the rapidly emerging force of globalization, the distinction between marketing within a firm's home country and marketing within external markets is disappearing very quickly. With this occurrence in mind, firms need to reorient their marketing strategies to meet the challenges of the global marketplace, in addition to sustaining their competitiveness within various markets.
1.1.2Marketing Environment:
It consists of the Task Environment and Broad Environment. Task Marketing includes immediate actors involved in producing, distributing, and promoting the offering. The main actors are the company, suppliers, distributors, dealers, and the target customers.
Broad marketing consists of six components: Demographic environment Economic environment Natural environment Technological environment Political-legal environment Socio-cultural environment. Customer orientation A firm in the market economy survives by producing goods that persons are willing and able to buy. Consequently, ascertaining consumer demand is vital for a firm's future viability and even existence as a going concern. Many companies today have a customer focus (or market orientation). This implies that the company focuses its activities and products on consumer demands. Generally there are three ways of doing this: the customer-driven approach, the sense of identifying market changes and the product innovation approach. In the consumer-driven approach, consumer wants are the drivers of all strategic marketing decisions. No strategy is pursued until it passes the test of consumer research. Every aspect of a market offering, including the nature of the product itself, is driven by the needs of potential consumers. The starting point is always the consumer. The rationale for this approach is that there is no point spending R&D funds developing products that people will not buy. History attests to many products that were commercial failures in spite of being technological breakthrough.
Marketing Mix
Target Market
PRODUCT PRICE PROMOTION PLACE
Product Variety Quality Design Features Brand Name Packaging Sizes Services Warranties Returns
Credit terms
Transport
Organizations that strive beyond minimum standards and exceed the expectations of their customers are likely to be leaders in their sector. Customers are recognized as key partners in shaping service development and assessing quality of service delivery. The process for measuring customer satisfaction and obtaining feedback on organizational performance are valuable tools for quality and continuous service improvement.
Quality, Value, Timeliness, Efficiency, Ease of Access, Environment, Interdepartmental Teamwork, Front line Service Behaviors, Commitment to the Customer and Innovation. These factors are emphasized for continuous improvement and organizational change measurement and are most often utilized to develop the architecture for satisfaction measurement as an integrated model. Work done by Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry (Leonard L) between 1985 and 1988 provides the basis for the measurement of customer satisfaction with a service by using the gap between the customer's expectation of performance and their perceived experience of performance. This provides the measurer with a satisfaction "gap" which is objective and quantitative in nature. Work done by Cronin and Taylor propose the "confirmation/disconfirmation" theory of combining the "gap" described by Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry as two different measures (perception and expectation of performance) into a single measurement of performance according to expectation. According to Garbrand, customer satisfaction equals perception of performance divided by expectation of performance. The usual measures of customer satisfaction involve a survey with a set of statements using a Liker Technique or scale. The customer is asked to evaluate each statement and in term of their perception and expectation of performance of the organization being measured.
What follows are a selection of tips that will make your clients feel valued, wanted and loved. 1.2.2.1. Encourage Face-to-Face Dealings This is the most daunting and downright scary part of interacting with a customer. If you're not used to this sort of thing it can be a pretty nervewracking experience. Rest assured, though, it does get easier over time. It's important to meet your customers face to face at least once or even twice during the course of a project. My experience has shown that a client finds it easier to relate to and work with someone they've actually met in person, rather than a voice on the phone or someone typing into an email or messenger program. When you do meet them, be calm, confident and above all, take time to ask them what they need. I believe that if a potential client spends over half the meeting doing the talking, you're well on your way to a sale. 1.2.2.2. Respond to Messages Promptly & Keep Your Clients Informed This goes without saying really. We all know how annoying it is to wait days for a response to an email or phone call. It might not always be practical to deal with all customers' queries within the space of a few hours, but at least email or call them back and let them know you've received their message and you'll contact them about it as soon as possible. Even if you're not able to solve a problem right away, let the customer know you're working on it. A good example of this is my Web host. They've had some trouble with server hardware which has caused a fair bit of downtime lately. At every step along the way I was emailed and told exactly what was going on, why things were going wrong, and how long it would be before they were working again. They also apologised repeatedly, which was nice. Now if they server had just
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gone down with no explanation I think I'd have been pretty annoyed and may have moved my business elsewhere. But because they took time to keep me informed, it didn't seem so bad, and I at least knew they were doing something about the problems. That to me is a prime example of customer service. 1.2.2.3. Be Friendly and Approachable A fellow Site Pointer once told me that you can hear a smile through the phone. This is very true. It's very important to be friendly, courteous and to make your clients feel like you're their friend and you're there to help them out. There will be times when you want to beat your clients over the head repeatedly with a blunt object - it happens to all of us. It's vital that you keep a clear head, respond to your clients' wishes as best you can, and at all times remain polite and courteous. 1.2.2.4. Have a Clearly-Defined Customer Service Policy This may not be too important when you're just starting out, but a clearly defined customer service policy is going to save you a lot of time and effort in the long run. If a customer has a problem, what should they do? If the first option doesn't work, then what? Should they contact different people for billing and technical enquiries? If they're not satisfied with any aspect of your customer service, who should they tell? There's nothing more annoying for a client than being passed from person to person, or not knowing who to turn to. Making sure they know exactly what to do at each stage of their enquiry should be of utmost importance. So make sure your customer service policy is present on your site -- and anywhere else it may be useful.
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1.2.2.5. Attention to Detail (also known as 'The Little Niceties') Have you ever received a Happy Birthday email or card from a company you were a client of? Have you ever had a personalised sign-up confirmation email for a service that you could tell was typed from scratch? These little niceties can be time consuming and aren't always cost effective, but remember to do them. Even if it's as small as sending a Happy Holidays email to all your customers, it's something. It shows you care; it shows there are real people on the other end of that screen or telephone; and most importantly, it makes the customer feel welcomed, wanted and valued. 1.2.2.6. Anticipate Your Client's Needs & Go Out Of Your Way to Help Them Out Sometimes this is easier said than done! However, achieving this supreme level of understanding with your clients will do wonders for your working relationship. Take this as an example: you're working on the front-end for your client's exciting new ecommerce endeavour. You have all the images, originals and files backed up on your desktop computer and the site is going really well. During a meeting with your client he/she happens to mention a hard-copy brochure their internal marketing people are developing. As if by magic, a couple of weeks later a CD-ROM arrives on their doorstep complete with high resolution versions of all the images you've used on the site. A note accompanies it which reads: "Hi, you mentioned a hard-copy brochure you were working on and I wanted to provide you with large-scale copies of the graphics I've used on the site. Hopefully you'll be able to make use of some in your brochure"
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Your client is heartily impressed, and remarks to his colleagues and friends how very helpful and considerate his Web designers are. Meanwhile, in your office, you lay back in your chair drinking your 7th cup of coffee that morning, safe in the knowledge this happy customer will send several referrals your way. 1.2.2.7. Honour Your Promises It's possible this is the most important point in this article. The simple message: when you promise something, deliver. The most common example here is project delivery dates. Clients don't like to be disappointed. Sometimes, something may not get done, or you might miss a deadline through no fault of your own. Projects can be late, technology can fail and sub-contractors don't always deliver on time. In this case a quick apology and assurance it'll be ready ASAP wouldn't go amiss.
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customer satisfaction, which in turn influences customer retention and customer loyalty.
Challenges: Tools and workflows can be complex to implement, especially for large enterprises. Previously these tools were generally limited to contact management, monitoring and recording interactions and communications. Software solutions then expanded to embrace deal tracking, territories, opportunities, and at the sales pipeline it. Next came the advent of tools for other client-facing business functions, as described below. These technologies have been, and still are, offered as on-premises software that companies purchase and run on their own IT infrastructure. Perhaps the most notable trend has been the growth of tools delivered via the Web, also known as cloud computing and software as a service (SaaS). In contrast with traditional onpremises software, cloud-computing applications are sold by subscription, accessed via a secure Internet connection, and displayed on a Web browser. Companies dont incur the initial capital expense of purchasing software; neither must they buy and maintain IT hardware to run it on. Despite all this, many companies are still not fully leveraging these tools and services to align marketing, sales, and service to best serve the enterprise. Often, implementations are fragmented; isolated initiatives by individual departments to address their own needs. Systems that start disunited usually stay that way: Siloed thinking and decision processes frequently lead to separate and incompatible systems, and dysfunctional processes.
includes much more. It is a process, a program, or a group of programs geared toward keeping a client happy so he or she will provide more business. Customer loyalty can be achieved in some cases by offering a quality product with a firm guarantee. Customer loyalty is also achieved through free offers, coupons, low interest rates on financing, high value trade-ins, extended warranties, rebates, and other rewards and incentive programs. The ultimate goal of customer loyalty programs is happy customers who will return to purchase again and persuade others to use that company's products or services. This equates to profitability, as well as happy stakeholders. Customer loyalty may be a one-time program or incentive, or an ongoing group of programs to entice consumers. Buy-one-get-one-free programs are very popular, as are purchases that come with rebates or free gifts. Another good incentive for achieving customer loyalty is offering a risk free trial period for a product or service. Also known as brand name loyalty, these types of incentives are meant to ensure that customers will return, not only to buy the same product again and again, but also to try other products or services offered by the company. Excellent customer service is another key element in gaining customer loyalty. If a client has a problem, the company should do whatever it takes to make things right. If a product is faulty, it should be replaced or the customer's money should be refunded. This should be standard procedure for any reputable business, but those who wish to develop customer loyalty on a large-scale basis may also go above and beyond the standard. They may offer even more by way of free gifts or discounts to appease the customer.
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satisfaction
The degree to which organizational climate mediates the relationship between human resource practices and customer satisfaction is investigated for 351 small businesses in the same industry. Results indicated support for the
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hypothesized mediated relationship. The indirect effects of HR practices on customer satisfaction were significant and relatively large while the direct effect was no significant and near zero. The results were supportive of a social context model of the impact of human resource practices on organizational outcomes. Limitations of the study and implications for future research are discussed. Assessing the Effects of Quality, Value, and Customer Satisfaction on Consumer Behavioural Intentions in Service Environments -J. JOSEPH CRONIN, JR.,Florida State University, MICHAEL K.BRADYBoston College & G. TOMAS M. HULT, Florida State University. To date the study of service quality, service value, and satisfaction issues have dominated the services literature. The crux of these discussions has been both operational and conceptual, with particular attention given to identifying the relationships among and between these constructs. These efforts have enabled us to better discriminate between the three variables and have resulted in an emerging consensus as to their interrelationships. This interest has certainly not escaped practitioners attention, as they have tied these variables to service employee evaluations and compensation packages. This is no doubt due to the implicit assumption that improvement in perceptions of the quality, value, and satisfaction in a service encounter should lead directly to favourable outcomes. Neverthe less,it is here where confusion remains. Service managers who refer to the literature to help evaluate the effectiveness of firm strategies or to set employee goals will find conflicting information as to which of these variables, if any, is directly related to a service firms bottom line (Bolton, 1998). Indeed, even a cursory evaluation of the literature reveals a myriad of conflicting results, as no research has
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simultaneously compared the relative influence of these three important constructs on service encounter outcomes. This gap in the literature has generated a new call for research. Referring to the effects of quality, value, and satisfaction on consumer purchase intentions, Ostrom and Iacobucci (1995) report . . . it would be interesting to examine these consumer judgments simultaneously in one study to compare their relative effects on subsequent consequential variables This leads to a number of unanswered questions. Is it necessary to measure all three of these variables or, as is suggested in the literature, will a subset of the three suffice? Do greater levels of service quality only indirectly encourage patronage by increasing the value and/or satisfaction associated with an organizations services? Are there other indirect effects on behavioral intentions that may have been overlooked? The purpose of this research is to answer these questions, and others. The different roles of satisfaction, trust, and commitment in customer relationships: -Ellen Garbarino and Mark S. Johnson Several theories of relationship marketing propose that customers vary in their relationships with a firm on a continuum from transactional to highly relational bonds. Few empirical studies have segmented the customer base of an organization into low and high relational groups to assess how evaluations vary for these groups. Using structural equation analysis, the authors analyze the relationships of satisfaction, trust, and commitment to component satisfaction attitudes and future intentions for the customers of a New York off-Broadway repertory theater company. For the low relational customers (individual ticket buyers and occasional subscribers), overall satisfaction is the primary mediating construct between the component attitudes and future intentions. For the high
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relational customers (consistent subscribers), trust and commitment, rather than satisfaction, are the mediators between component attitudes and future intentions. Affirmative idea in the development of relationship marketing thought states that there is a continuum of customer relationships, ranging from transactional to relational orientations was one of the first writers to suggest that the applivation of transactional or relational marketing should depend on the customers orientation to a relationship. Following jacksons ideas anderson and narus propose that organizations should analyze the position of their customers on a continnum of transactional to collaborative exchanges. These authors argue that an organization may need pursue both transactional and relational marketing simultaneously because not all customers want the same working relationship. Dwyer schurr and oh also emphasize the importance of a
transactional/relational continnum by incorporating macneils writings on contract law. Macneil argues that transactional exchanges are discrete buyer and seller exchanges of a commodity or performance for money with minimal personal relationships and no anticipation or obligation of future exchanges. At the other end of the continnum or the relational exchanges, which are characterized by cooperative actions and mutual adjustments of both the parties, a sharing of the benefits and burdens of the exchange, and planning for future exchanges. Mavneil maintains that purely transacional or discrete exchanges are rare and that some aspect of relationalism permeates most contractual changes between buyers and sellers.
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To analyse the quality of service the customers are getting from the company.
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Secondary source: Much of the information was collected from the various other websites, books and journals.
to retain their existing customers by satisfying their expectations. In the column of review of literature the relation and the importance of the customer satisfaction with the company, customer value, etc has been presented with the reviews of the various scholars in the field of marketing. There was a clear description about the importance and the scope of study and the main objectives for the purpose of conducting the study were made clear. The research design adopted with different methods and tables and there was clear presentation of the limitations of the study. In chapter three the overview of the whole industry at global level and also at the country level has been mentioned with actual facts and figures which were done same in the case of the company profile. Once the topic profile in the organisation was made clear the study was supported with clear analysis of data and the fair presentation of the findings, suggestion and the conclusion at the end of the details presented for the study.
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By investing premium payments in a wide range of revenue producing projects, insurance companies have become major suppliers of capital, and they ranks among the nations largest institutional investors.
was the earliest form of insurance, which was introduced by the Alliance British, and Foreign Insurance Company, which established an agency office at Madras in 1825. By the year 1885 nearly 50 foreign offices commenced insurance business through agency houses and majority these offices were British and a few were from Australia and New Zealand. It was only in 1850 that an Indian insurance company was formed to transact general insurance, namely the Triton Insurance Company. Towards the end of the 19th century, the Indian businessmen in western India started taking active interest in insurance business as brokers. During this period, fire insurance transactions were confined to the metropolitan cities of Bombay, Calcutta and Madras. These truncations were gradually extended to the other areas as industries were developed outside these cities. The Indian brokers however operated only in western India and their growing influence in the local mercantile community, they began to virtually control the business. The period between the two world wars was a period of struggle for the newly established Indian Insurance Companies who with their limited experience had to face severe competition from foreign insurers who had superior technical expertise and huge experience. The position was further aggravated by the fact that exchange banks did not accord recognition to the insurance policies issued by Indian insurance companies except to smaller limits. Under these distributed conditions, Government intervention became inevitable. Accordingly, in 1935 a special officer was appointed to investigate and report on insurance reforms ad in 1938, the Indian Insurance Act was passed and brought into force in 1939. This Act incorporated the principle of uniform governance overall insurers, both foreign and Indian. The Act was an important
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landmark in the history of insurance and it was amended a number of times and the most important amendments being made in 1950 and 1968. Need for Global Integration The economic liberalization, which started few years ago, started bringing in few investments from global giants and the government was hard pressed to facilitate global integration eliminating trade barriers for the free flow of technology, intellectual and financial capital. Additionally, reforms are essential if the Indian economy is to achieve and sustain a growth rate of 7 to 8 percent per annum. Reaching a faster path also implies attracting direct investment inflows of $10 billion every year, up from the current level of $3 to 3.5 Billion. Thus liberalization of insurance creates an environment for the generation of long-term contractual funds for infrastructure creates an environment for the generation of the long-term contractual funds for infrastructure investments. 3.1.3 EVOLUTION OF INSURANCE MARKET IN INDIA The evolution of insurance market dates back to 1818. The business of life insurance in India in the year 1818 with the establishment of the Oriental Life Insurance Company in Kolkata. Some of the important milestones in the insurance business in India are: 1912: The Indian Life Insurance Companies Act enacted as the first statute to regulate the Life Insurance business. 1928: The Indian Insurance Companies Act enabled the government to collect statistical information about life and non-life insurance business. 1938: Earlier legislation was consolidated and amended by the Insurance Act with the objective of protecting the interests of the insuring public.
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1956: 245 Indian and foreign insurers and provident societies taken over by the Central Government were nationalized. LIC formed by an Act of parliament, viz., LIC Act 1956, with a capital contribution of Rs 5 crores from the Government in India. Prior to 1956, a large number of organizations were managing life insurance and general insurance business. But in 1956, the life insurance business was nationalized and monopoly was vested with Life Insurance Corporation (LIC). Similarly in 1972, the general insurance business was nationalized and started to be managed by General Insurance Corporation (GIC) and its four subsidies namely National Insurance Company Limited, New India Assurance Company Limited, Oriental Fire and General Insurance Company Limited and United Company Limited. The governments concern about the state of the insurance industry was revealed in the early nineties, when an expert committee was set up under the chairmanship of late R.N.Malhotra. Amongst the various recommendations put in by the Malhotra Committee, the most important recommendations was the opening up of the insurance industry, subject to the conditions that a private insurer should have a minimum paid up capital of Rs.100 crores, and that the promoters stake in the otherwise widely held company should not be less than 26 percent and not more than 40 percent. Subsequent to the submission of its report by the Malhotra Committee, Insurance Regulatory Authority (IRA) Bill was introduced in the parliament. In November 1998, the Central Cabinet approved the Bill, which envisaged a ceiling of 26 percent for non-Indian stakeholders. The committee has also recommended that the minimum paid up share capital of the new insurance companies be raised to Rs.200 crores, double the
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amount proposed by the Malhotra Committee. Today, due to these developments, the Indian Insurance market stands wide open and has attracted a host of global players. MALHOTRA COMMITTEE In 1993, Malhotra Committee headed by former finance secretary and RBI governor R.N.Malhotra, was formed to evaluate the Indian Insurance industry and recommended its future direction. The Malhotra Committee was set up with the objective of implementing the reforms initiated in the financial sector. The reforms were aimed at creating a more efficient and competitive financial system suitable for the requirements of the economy keeping in mind the structural changes currently underway and recognizing that insurance is an important part of the overall financial system where it was necessary to address the need for similar reforms... RECOMMENDATIONS Malhotra Committee made some recommendations to improve the penetration of insurance. They include: Government stake in the insurance companies to be brought down to 50%. Government should take over the holdings of GIC and its subsidiaries so that these subsidiaries can act as independent corporations. All the insurance companies should be given greater freedom to operate. Competition Private companies with a minimum paid of Rs.1 billion should be allowed to enter the industry.
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No company should deal in both life and general insurance through a single entity. Foreign companies may be allowed to enter the industry in collaboration with the domestic companies. Postal life insurance should be allowed to operate in the rural market. Only one state level life insurance company should be allowed to operate in each state. The insurance Act should be changed and an insurance regulatory body should be setup. Controller of insurance should be made independent Investments Mandatory Investments of LIC Life Fund in government securities to be reduced from 75% to 50%. GIC and its subsidiaries are not to hold more than 5% in any company. Customer service LIC should pay interest on delays in payments beyond 30 days. Insurance companies must be encouraged to set up unit linked pension plans. Computerization of operations and updating of technology to be carried out in the insurance industry. The committee emphasized that in order to improve the customer service and increase the coverage of the insurance industry should be opened up to competition. But at the same time, the committee felt the need to exercise caution as any failure on the part of new players could ruin the public confidence in the industry. Hence, it was decided to allow competition in a limited way by stipulating the minimum capital
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requirement of Rs. 100 crores. The committee felt the need to provide greater autonomy to insurance companies in order to improve their performance and enable them to act as independent companies with economic motives. For this purpose, it had proposed setting up an independent regulatory body.
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INSURANCE BUSINESS Life insurers transact life insurance business; general insurers trasact the rest. No composites are permitted as per law. 3.1.4.1 LIFE INSURANCE Insurance that guarantees a specific sum of money to a designated beneficiary upon the death insured or to the insured if he or she lives beyond a certain age. A contract between an owner (often the insured person) and a life insurance company that guarantees the payment of a stated amount of money on the death of the insured. A protection against the lost income that would result if the insured passed away. The named beneficiary receives the proceeds and is thereby safeguarded from the financial impact of the death of the insured. Life insurance, originally conceived to protect a mans family when his death left the family without income, has developed into a variety of policy plans. In a whole life policy, fixed premiums are paid through the insureds life time. This accumulated amount, augmented by compound interest is paid to a beneficiary in a lump sum upon the insureds death; the benefit is paid even if the insured terminated the policy. TYPES OF LIFE INSURANCE WHOLE LIFE INSURANCE Whole life is a type of permanent life insurance. It is called permanent because a whole life policy provides life-long protection and is guaranteed to do so by the insurance company. With whole life, one pays a fixed premium for life instead of the increased premiums on renewable term life insurance policies.
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Since the word term in term life insurance means a period of time one could say that the term for whole life insurance is the term of all of the life. It is not technically called lifetime term insurance, but in a way it could be described that way. There is non-participating whole life insurance issued by a stock life insurance company. Term Insurance Term insurance is life insurance coverage for a specified period of time. This can be at a guaranteed rate or in some cases a guaranteed rate for a period of time and then a projected rate. Term periods can be for 1 year, 5 years, 10 years, 15,20 and even 30 years. For example, 30 year level term would guarantee a level premium for 30 years based on a specified death benefit. Term life insurance is usually the least expensive form of life coverage, at least initially. After the initial term period of years, 5, 10, 15, 20, 30 etc. The policy could renew it at a higher premium; it is called renewable term life insurance. Universal life insurance Universal life insurance is permanent life insurance with premiums that are not guaranteed. To a certain degree one can design a premium on this type of policy. Universal life insurance often can be set up with a lower premium initially than whole life insurance. Premiums and values are based on projections of assumed interest rates, the cost of insurance(also known as mortality cost) and the insurance companys expenses. The actual premium paid may increase because interest rates may go lower or the projected cost of insurance may increase.
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3.1.4.2 PRINCIPLES OF INSURANCE Economic principle Actuarial or mathematical principle Legal principle Economic principle The concept of law of large numbers forms the economic basis of life insurance. The law of large number states that the larger the number of separate risks of a like nature combines into a group, the less uncertainty there is as to the relative amount of loss that will be incurred with a given period. Actuarial or mathematical principle Contribution of each individual in insurance is called premium. To be equitable, every individual should contribute a premium proportional to the risk he brings into the fund. The process of fixing the contribution or premium is done through actuarial principle. Legal principle The relevant laws have to be abided by establishing a legally acceptable understanding, relationship and mutual responsibilities between individual and the fund. 3.1.5 The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority Reforms in the insurance sector were initiated with the passage of the IRDA bill parliament in December 1999, the IRDA since its incorporation as a statuary body in April 2000 has fastidiously stuck to its schedule of framing regulations and registering the private sector insurance companies. The other decision taken simultaneously to provide the supporting systems to the insurance sector and in particular the life insurance companies was the launch of
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the IRDAs online service for issue and renewal of licenses to agents. The approval of institutions for imparting training to agents. The approval of institutions for imparting training to agents has ensured that the insurance companies have trained workforce. Since being set up as an independent statutory body, the IRDA has put in a framework of globally compatible regulations. In private sector 12 life insurance and 6 general insurance companies have been registered. 3.1.5.1 Regulatory Issues for private Insurance Companies The IRDA Bill lies down that the Indian promoter must dilute the stake in the private insurance firms from 74 percent to 26 percent in ten years. The bill stipulate tough solvency margins Rs. 500 million for net premium income for general insurance and Rs 1 billion for reinsurance. The insurer has to maintain separate accounts relating to fund of shareholders and policyholders. The fund of policyholders should be retained within the country but does not cover repatriation of profits and dividends. Insurance companies under the new regime will have to expose to Rural and social sectors. Foreign investment in insurance is crucial to financing infrastructure and better insurance cover. The key success is opening up of the insurance sector in India. An example of how poor regulation can destroy a market is the mutual fund industry. A combination of improper marketing practice and unfullfilable promises has resulted in a loss of investor faith in that industry. Incidentally, the insurance industry in India itself has gone through the phase. One of the reasons for nationalization of the insurance industry (LIC in 1956 and GIC in 1973) was the mismanagement and malpractice of erstwhile private players.
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Private players in Indian insurance market: S.No Company name 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 HDFC standard Life insurance company limited Max New York Life insurance company limited Indiafirstlife insurance company limited Om Kotak Mahindra life insurance company limited Birla sun life insurance company limited Tata AIG life insurance company limited SBI life insurance company company limted INDIAFIRST Life insurance company limited Allianz bajaj life insurance company limited Met life insurance company privet limited AMP sanmar assurance company private limited AVIVA(Dabur and aviva,uk) SHARA life insurance
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Our strengths: Indiafirst brings the strengths of the three strong promoters. Our Indian partners bring together their extensive knowledge about the Indian markets, financial stability, credible brand presence and wide distribution reach. On the other hand, the legal & general group, our third partner brings international best practices in global insurance, saving and investments to facilitate the formation of a world class life insurance company in India.
3.2.1 PROMOTERS:
Bank of Baroda is the 3rd largest public sector bank in the country with an enviable network of over 3000 branches that spreads across the geography of India and over 70 branches across 22 countries globally! This behemoth financial institution is over 100 years old and has been built on financial prudence, corporate governance and most importantly the trust of valuable customers like you. Andhra Bank has been serving the Indian customer for over 85 years and currently has a network of over 1500 branches. The bank has developed best in class deposit and lending schemes for its valued customers. Both the banks are nationalized and provide best in class products and services to every Indian citizen. Legal & General is one of UKs leading financial institutions with a heritage of over 150 years. It provides life assurance, pensions, investments and general insurance plans to over 5 crore customers across countries. Legal and General brings rich fund management and insurance experience into India and aspires to provide first-rate products and services to the doorstep of every Indian customer in conjunction with the 2 trusted public sector banks
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BOARD OF DIRECTORS The Indiafirst life insurance company Ltd board comprises reputed people from the finance industry both from india and abroad. Shri M.D.Mallya, Chairman Shri Anil Girotra, Director Shri S.Bhattacharya, Director Shri N.R.Badrinarayanan,Director Shri Rakesh Sehi,Director Mr. Gareth Hoskin, Director Mr.Ian Viney,Director Mr. Manohar Bhide, Independent Director MANAGEMENT TEAM:Mr. P.Nandagopal, Managing Director & CEO Mr.Chandan Khasnobis, Appointed Actuary Mr.Kamalakar Sai, Chief Distribution Officer Mr.Varij Pujara, Chief Marketing Officer Mr.Karni Singh Arha, Chief Financial Officer Mr. A.K.Sridhar, Chief Investment Officer Mr. Ranjen Doshi, Chief Risk Officer Mr. Mohit Rochlani, Head-Operations Mr. B.Satishwar, Head-Finance Mr. Ramaswamy Subramanian, Head-Business Process Mr. Subhash Menon, Head- Human Resources Mr. Vinayak Khadye, Head-Information Technology
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3.2.2 PRODUCTS:
3.2.2.1 INDIAFIRST SAVINGS PLAN: "You dream, you aspire. And we help you achieve! " Each of us aspires to own a house, dreams of exotic overseas vacations, wishes to fund our children in all their lifes events, hopes to have sufficient retirement funds The Indiafirst Savings Plan helps you grow and develop a body of wealth through market linked investments. We help you save systematically and provide you avenues to invest your savings in funds, on the basis of your risk appetite. FEATURES AND BENIFITS: You can build your savings corpus systematically, through investments in various funds. You secure the future of your family, as they get an assured lump sum benefit immediately, in case of your untimely death. You have the option to invest in debt, equity or a balanced fund, where you choose the proportion of your investment into each! You can make the most of your investments by switching from one fund to another. You have the option to build up your corpus through additional deposits. You get easy access to your money by being able to withdraw partially. Under Section 80C you can enjoy Tax Benefits on the premium you invest. You also get tax benefits on the benefits you receive at maturity of your policy, under Section 10(10D).
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3.2.2.2 INDIAFIRST EDUCATION PLAN: "Your child, your pride Our responsibility" We understand that, as a parent, you want to give nothing but the best to your child. Be it your childs education or any dream. You will not allow anything to come in the way of your childs success. To help you give your child everything that you have dreamt of, we have introduced the Indiafirst Education Plan. FEATURES AND BENIFITS: Your child will always receive funds at every momentous occasion in his/her life. Be it High School / College/ Professional course or any other life event! Your child gets financial security even if any untoward incident results in your death / disability. We will do this by paying the remaining premiums into your policy. Your child, who we may also refer as the Beneficiary , receives the Fund Value at Maturity even if the Sum Assured has been paid out on the unfortunate incident of your demise. You have the option to invest in debt, equity or a balanced fund, where you choose the proportion of your investment into each! You can make the most of your investments by switching from one fund to another. You have the option to build up your corpus through additional deposits. You get easy access to your money by being able to withdraw partially. Under Section 80C and 10(10D) you can enjoy Tax Benefits on the premium you invest.
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3.2.2.3 INDIAFIRST FUTURE PLAN: "You evolve, you mature... And we help you prosper" The best years of Life ought to be your retirement years. You have worked hard all your life, and you deserve the best things in life in these golden years. We identify with you. We are therefore presenting the perfect plan that will empower you for this golden period. The Indiafirst Future plan helps you set-aside money in your prime years when are generating income and enjoy a healthy lump sum or a steady income in your retirement years. FEATURES AND BENIFITS: You can choose the age at which you want to retire. You have the option to invest in Debt, Equity or a balanced fund, where you choose the proportion of your investment into each! You can make the most of your investments by switching from one fund to another. You have the option to build up your retirement corpus through additional deposits. You get easy access to your money by being able to withdraw partially. You can enjoy tax free returns up to 1/3rd of the fund value as at your chosen date of retirement (called Vesting Age). HOW DOES THE PLAN WORK? The plan starts with you choosing the age at which you wish to retire. You also choose the amount you wish to contribute towards your retirement corpus as premiums. The premiums contributed by you are invested in funds of your choice. At the vesting age, the fund value is paid to you in lump sum.
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INTERPRETATION: From the data we clearly observe that more than half of sampled respondents are insured earlier and very few respondents were not insured. It resembles that maximum respondents are aware of the insurance products and their uses. This reveals that insurance is gradually penetrating into the market.
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4.2] Main concern while choosing Insurance TABLE N0: 4.2 concern about insurance
Particulars Tax benefit Security Return on investment Saving Total No of Respondents 9 31 44 16 100
CHART NO: 2
No of respondents
Tax benefits
Concern while choosing Insurance 9
Security
31
Return on Investment 44
Savings
16
INTERPRETATION: From the above data it shows Most of the respondents consider return on investment as their main criteria while choosing an insurance policy i.e. more respondents are concerned about money rather than their lives and they gave second importance to security, and then comes saving and tax benefits.
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4.3] Awareness of Indiafirst life TABLE N0: 4.3 Awareness of the Company
Particulars TV advertisement Through Bank Agent Word of mouth Others Total No of Respondents 13 34 49 3 1 100
INTERPRETATION: From the above data it shows Major Number of respondents came to know about the company through the agents of the company, and then through banks. (Andhra Bank) and also played a major role in creating awareness to the customers, TV advertisements and word of mouth also created awareness.
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4.4] Opinion on Indiafirst Life Insurance products TABLE N0:4.4 Opinion on products
particulars Highly Satisfied Satisfied Moderate Unsatisfied Highly Unsatisfied Total No of Respondents 28 53 15 4 0 100
INTERPRETATION: From the above data it shows Half of the respondents are satisfied with the product i.e. with the benefits , while one fourth are highly satisfied with companies products and their benefits, moderate are about one by fifth of the respondents.
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INTERPRETATION: From the above data it shows that Most of the respondents think Education plan is more beneficiary because it provide more benefits like wavier of premium and less charges, coming to Savings plan some of the respondents think it is also an beneficiary product and only very few respondents opted Future plan.
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4.6] Rating of the Indiafirst life products on basis of satisfying the financial need
INTERPRETATION: From the above data it shows many of the respondents rated 3 as satisfactory, one fourth of the respondents rated 4 as satisfactory about the company and there are nearly same rating on 1 and 5.
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Opinion on premium
no of respondents
50 40 30 20 10 0 Highly satisfied
Opinion on premium
Satisfied
Moderate
Unsatisfie d 28
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Highly unsatisfie d 5
INTERPRETATION: From the above data it shows major number of respondents having moderate opinion on the premium offered by the company, there are one fourth unsatisfied and some respondents who are satisfied with the premium and almost the same number of highly satisfied and highly unsatisfied with the premium paid.
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INTERPRETATION: From the above data it shoes half of the respondents are satisfied by the maturity benefits and more number of respondents are moderately satisfied and few are highly satisfied and a very less number of respondents are unsatisfied.
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CHART NO: 9
INTERPRETATION: From the above data it shows many respondents want improvement in fewer premiums because many of the rural people cant effort high premiums, then respondents are opted for return on investment to improve, rider benefits are also opted by many respondents, then transparency and procedures.
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INTERPRETATION: From the above data it shows comparatively, short term plans seem to be better suited to respondents, though there is a critical section opting for long term as well.
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INTERPRETATION: From the above data it shows major number of respondents are interested in taking new plans other than ULIP because in this the return is volatile, and one fourth of respondents said its not needed and remaining said cant say.
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4.12] Opinion on post sales services TABLE N0:4.12 Post Sales Service
Particulars Highly Satisfied Satisfied Moderate Unsatisfied Highly Unsatisfied Total No of Respondents 18 64 14 4 0 100
INTERPRETATION: From the above data it shows Maximum respondents are satisfied by the services provided by the company after post sale, good number respondents who are highly satisfied with the service provided by the company, few respondents feel moderate with the post sale service and there is less number of persons who are unsatisfied.
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5.1 FINDINGS:
Most of the respondents were focused on return on investment, and the second major option was security to their future. Major number of respondents came to know about the company through the agents of the company, and then bank (Andhra Bank) also played a major role in creating awareness to the customers, TV advertisements and word of mouth also created awareness. Half of the respondents are satisfied with the product, while one fourth are highly satisfied, moderate are about one fifth. Most of the respondents think Education plan is more beneficiary, then Saving plan is also have been said as beneficiary and only some of them opted Future plan. There are major numbers of respondents having moderate opinion, there are one by fourth unsatisfied and some respondents who are satisfied and almost the same number of highly satisfied and highly unsatisfied. Half of the respondents are satisfied by the maturity benefits and more number of moderate and highly satisfied and a very less number of unsatisfied and no highly unsatisfied. Many respondents wants improvement in fewer premiums, return on investment is also is opted to improve, rider benefits are also opted by many respondents, then transparency and procedures. Comparatively, short term plans seem to be better suited to respondents, though there is a critical section opting for long term as well. Major number of respondents was suggested to introduce new products, and one by fourth of respondents said its not needed and remaining said cant say.
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Maximum respondents are satisfied by the services provided by the company, and good number respondents who are highly satisfied and moderate; there is less number of persons who are unsatisfied.
5.2 SUGGESTIONS:
The company should also concentrate on all the consumer segments. The company should create new policies that are meant to lower middle class people. The delivery expectations of the customers have to be satisfied by the company so that the customers satisfaction can be improved further Some of the customers have rated satisfactory for the customer support peoples competence and response time. Along with selling the products of the company the advisors should also carry out good relationship activities with existing policyholders. The company should take adequate measures to get the feedback from customers in modifying and developing the policies. Finally the company has to improve in two of its aspects which are delivery of policies at right time and competence of customer support people.
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5.3 CONCLUSION:
Working with Indiafirst Life Insurance for two months was a very nice and a good learning experience. It has helped me a lot learning about different kinds of investments and the pros-corns of its. It has also helped me to know about how works in a corporate world is done. Though we had a very nice experience but we had to face some problems even, like we were not given any identity card by the company so sometime it became very difficult for us to convince people that we are from the company and not an agent. Mostly small investors are not satisfied with the charges of the IFLIC. 1. Customers are much more relying upon LIC. 2. People dont rely upon private insurance sector. 3. All products are not attractive to the customers so that kind of products are very hard to sale. 4. Less number of traditional plans thats why people who really need traditional plans are still not satisfied. 5. Majority of the customers are satisfied with the beneficial schemes the company. 6. Majority of the customers are satisfied with the service of the company
For any company to achieve good satisfaction of the customers it has to be good in all Departments of the company. This obviously leads the company to achieve customer satisfaction. As Indiafirst life insurance Company is following best practices in all departments the survey results have shown the customers are fully satisfied with the product and overall the customers have rated Indiafirst life insurance Company is an excellent company.
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The Websites Gone Through www.irdaindia.org www.insuranceindia.com www.insurancequotesmarket.com www.quoteforms.com www.Indiafirstlife.com www.wikipedia.com
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Q2. What is your main concern while choosing an insurance policy? A] Tax benefit B] Security C] Return on Investment D] Savings
Q3. How did you come to know about this company ? (Please tick) A] D] TV Advertisements Word of Mouth E] B] Through Bank C] Agents
Q4.Please express your opinion about the plans of Indiafirst life A] Highly satisfied [ ] D] Unsatisfied [ ] B] Satisfied [ ] E] Highly Unsatisfied [ ]. C] Moderate [ ]
Q5. Which plan do you think that is more beneficiary? A] Savings plan B] Education plan C] Future plan
Q6. Does the policy satisfy your financial needs? (Please rate on the scale of 1 to 5 with 1 being least satisfied) _________________________________________________________________ Q7. Please express your opinion for the premiums of the policy? A] Highly satisfied [ ] D] Unsatisfied [ ] B] Satisfied [ ] E] Highly Unsatisfied [ ] C] Moderate [ ]
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Q8. Are you satisfied with the maturity benefits associated with your policy? A] Highly satisfied [ ] D] Unsatisfied [ ] B] Satisfied [ ] E] Highly Unsatisfied [ ]. C] Moderate [ ]
Q9. According to you, in what areas should the insurance companies work upon? A] Less complicated procedures D] Transparency B] Fewer premiums E] Rider benefits C] More returns
Q10. Which plan do you prefer? A] Short term plans (1 to 5 yrs.) B] Long term plans (5 yrs. & above)
Q11. Do you think policies apart from ULIP should be introduced? A] Yes B] No C] Cant say
Q12. Please express your opinion of the post sales services provided by the company? A] Highly satisfied [ ] D] Unsatisfied [ ] B] Satisfied [ ] E] Highly Unsatisfied [ ]. C] Moderate [ ]
Your comments on Indiafirst life insurance co., __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ Thank You for spending your valuable time.
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