MARKETING STRATEGIES OF LIFE INSURANCE INDUSTRY IN INDIA: A CONTEMPORARY SCENARIO

Abstract: Life insurance system is as much a subject of evolutionary development and change as any other social system. There has been a vast scope of experimentation all over the world in the area of the insurance sector. The insurance is primarily a social device adopted by civilized society for mitigating the incidence of loss of income to families by unforeseen contingencies. Insurance and economic development in India exhibits a direct positive correlation on the growth path. Insurance companies, both life and non-life, have been playing the role of financial intermediaries and performing extremely useful functions in our economy. In India, insurance sector was opened for private participation with the enactment of the IDRA Act, 1999. Since then, 23 private companies have been established in life insurance sector. All these players are actively introducing innovative marketing strategies to meet the specific needs of the prospective customers. Exploring more distribution channels of insurance for untapped rural market, strong customer awareness programs and new promotional strategies are the immediate requirements for sustaining in today's cut throat competition. Further more customer service is the key for the success of life insurance companies therefore more attention should be given in post-sales services rather than pre-sales services. In this paper the researcher focus mainly on all the important aspects of life insurance marketing activity from a services perspective and highlights the contemporary marketing strategies adopted by the life insurance companies in India