Date:23/12/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/12/23/stories/2008122361541900.htm

Business

Insurance plan for tea plantation workers

Special Correspondent

ICICI Prudential partners Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

Effective way to reach marginalised population
More than a million plantation workers to benefit

— PHOTO: SANDEEP SAXENA

WORKERS’ PROTECTION: Rishi Srivastava, Senior Vice-President-Head of Sales, ICICI Prudential Life, flanked by Andren Bogui (left), Deputy Director ILO, South Asia, and Jeanna Holtz, Senior Grant Officer, Micro Insurance Innovation Facility, ILO, at a press conference in New Delhi on Monday.

NEW DELHI: ICICI Prudential Life on Monday announced the launch of an insurance plan designed to help tea plantation workers meet their savings and protection needs.

Low premium

A unit-linked endowment product, Anmol Nivesh, would be available with an annual premium of as low as Rs. 1,200 for a sum assured of Rs. 6,000, ICICI Prudential Life Senior Vice-President, Rishi Srivastava, told newsmen here announcing that it had partnered the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for the product.

Policy term

While the policy term is for 7-15 years, the product allows partial withdrawals after three years of premium payment to meet the short-term liquidity needs of customers in lean income period, he said.

Talking about the grant, Mr. Srivastava said the facility, a partnership between the International Labour Organisation and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, would support the company to provide insurance solutions to over 1.2 million tea plantation workers over the next 2-3 years. He also said the facility would be utilised to spread awareness on financial literacy, need for savings, child education, healthcare, benefits of life insurance and providing training to the staff and people related to the project.

ILO (South Asia) Deputy Director, Andren Bogui, said: “We are providing support to ICICI Prudential Life as we believe the company has developed an innovative and sustainable approach to reach a marginalised population such as the tea workers of Assam and is committed to providing effective solutions to the low income groups in the country”.