Sachet insurance products also known as bite sized insurance product are low ticket size, small premium, simple, digital based insurance products. These products are slowly gaining popularity in the current Indian market and the regulator IRDAI is also planning to give licences to small players and intermediaries to promote such low -ticket size retail insurance.
As the premium of these products can be as low as a few paise the sales volume which the product generates or the number of products sold is of considerable importance. These products typically will cover smaller risks with lesser sum insured, the success of these products will largely depend on low acquisition and administrative costs. Tech start up Insurance companies are devising technology-based distribution for sachet products and are either developing their own platforms or partnering with digital based service providers to increase the sales targeting the new age tech savvy millennials.
The purchase process and claim process should be extremely simple for these products and there should be clearly defined simple policy terms with absolutely no complications and jargons involved. We will discuss some sachet insurance product currently available in the Indian market with their features, insurers, platforms and USP behind the same.
- IRCTC has tied up with various general insurance companies to provide an optional travel insurance for E ticket passengers. This can be easily purchased while booking a ticket from IRCTC website and mobile application by checking a tick box agreeing to opt for the same. The premium is just 49 paise per passenger inclusive of taxes. Coverage starts from actual departure of train from originating station and ends on arrival at destination station including process of entraining and detraining. This travel insurance is a good example of sachet insurance product uniform for all classes of passengers covering any untoward incident during the course of journey. Sum insured under the policy for accidental death and permanent total disablement is INR 10 Lakh, permanent partial disability is INR 7.5 lakh, hospitalization expenses in case of injury is covered upto INR 2 Lakh and transportation of mortal remains is covered upto INR 10k.
- Acko general insurance in partnership with Ola cabs provides sachet insurance products starting with premium of 1 rupee for people availing city rides. The insurance purchase can be done while booking an Ola cab by the mobile application and the claim process is also fairly simple with quick settlement and minimum documentation. Ola’s trip insurance has insured more than 23 million rides in a period of 10 months. One of such insurance comes at a price of 49 rupee per ride for outstation customers of Ola cabs and provides Personal accident for a sum insured of 7.5 lakh, hospitalization due to injury (2 Lakh), daily allowance for hospitalization (1k per day for 7 days), Missed flight domestic travel (Upto 7.5k), loss of baggage and personal items including laptops (Upto 20k), Fire and burglary at home (Upto 1 Lakh), Emergency finance and hotel accommodation (Upto 10k), Medical evacuation (Upto 10k), Repatriation of remains (Upto 10k).
- Toffee insurance is one such online platform having tie ups with various insurance companies recently opened its shop specially focusing on sachet insurance products. Some of the products it is currently offering are
- Dengue insurance (annual policy with a premium of 682 covering inpatient hospitalization for dengue upto 1 lakh)
- Backpack insurance starting from Rs 25 (6 months policy covering stolen backpacks including laptop)
- International travel insurance for a duration of 1-180 days starting 346 rupees
- Cyclist Insurance (Duration of 1 year starting from 225 INR premium covering theft and accidental damage to the cycle and death and disability due to an accident)
- Mosquito insurance (Annual policy starting premium rupees 189 providing lump sum pay out upon hospitalization for 7 mosquito borne diseases like Dengue, chikungunya and Malaria.
- Symbo insurance is an online insurance broker offering innovative products like Marathon insurance starting a premium of 49 INR, it covers the marathon run against risks like loss of shoes during flight transit to attend the marathon event, accident cover upto 1 lakh, hospitalization expenses upto 50k, and trip cancellation.
- Mobikwik partnering with some life insurance companies provides low ticket life insurance products with sum insured of around 1 lakh with starting premiums as low as 148 rupees annually and 20 Rs monthly.
- Digit insurance offers various low-ticket sized products including a home protection policy starting premium of 200 rupees covering risk of burglary, loss and damage of jewellery and natural perils.
- One assist consumer solution provides complementary insurance along with its other services for smartphones and home appliances.
In the United states a famous bite sized insurer named Lemonade was able to cross a gross written premium of USD 57 million and scaled upto 425k customers in just two years of opening. Chinese company Zhong an is the world’s largest bite sized insurer covering 430 million customers and recorded a GWP of USD 1 billion within 5 years.
In India the demand of sachet insurance product will surely increase in coming time but the need of the hour to innovate on the product construct covering every small need of customers and making it more affordable and less complicated. The market for such products is still at nascent stage but lays a strong foundation for future prospects and growth.