Home loan insurance to grow 100%

Indians to hedge loan risk
Aug. 20: The credit protection insurance sector in India is expected to grow at over 100 per cent per annum. A survey indicates that about 73 per cent of the Indian population currently prefers to go for the home loan protection insurance. SBI Life Insurance managing director and CEO U.S. Roy said, "In the financial year 2006-07, the home loan protection insurance alone contributed to more than Rs 225 crores of new business premium income to SBI Life Insurance."
He said, "As awareness on the availability of such insurance products covering all sorts of loan risks increase in our country, I foresee the credit insurance sector to grow at over 100 per cent annually in India. To encash the boom witnessed in this sector, we have planned to expand the current network of our agents from 25,000 to 50,000 by the end of 2007."
Mr Roy said, "SBI Life’s recent survey conducted on credit life reveals that around 75 per cent of the Indian households declared that they would be unable to easily maintain their current lifestyle and sustain beyond six months in the event of a disability following an accident, an illness or unemployment of the principal bread-earner."
SBI Life Insurance country head Mr Rajiv Kumar Gupta said, "The survey also reveals that the 73 per cent of the Indian population that would think of home loans would also go for the home loan protection insurance. About 98 per cent of the Indians in the survey acknowledged the need for such credit insurance products." Credit insurance products cover the payment of monthly instalments that the borrower is justifiably unable to pay in the event of unforeseen circumstances