A PROJECT REPORT ON

“CONSUMER AWARENESS ON LIFE INSURANCE PRODUCTS

OFFERED BY SHRIRAM LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY

HYDERABAD”

SUBMITTED TO

ANNAMALAI UNIVERSITY

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF TWO YEARS FULL TIME

MASTERS DEGREE IN BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION (MBA)

SUBMITTED BY

ANNE LIKHITHA

(BATCH: 2018-2020)

Under the guidance of

MR.M.SATYENDRA KUMAR M.Com, M.B.A

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR

“FBS BUSINESS SCHOOL”

Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh

1
 DECLARATION

I ANNE LIKHITHA hereby declare that this project titled “A STUDY OF

CONSUMER AWARENESS ON LIFE INSURANCE PRODUCTS
OFFERED BY SHRIRAM LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY,
HYDERABAD” has been prepared by me in partial fulfillment of
requirement for the award of Degree of “MASTER OF BUSINESS
ADMINISTRATION”.All the information furnished in this report is based
on my own observations during the period of 11thJuly - 23rdSeptember
2019 at Hyderabad.

SIGNATURE

ANNE LIKHITHA

2
3
 CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the project work entitled “A STUDY OF

CONSUMER AWARENESS ON LIFE INSURANCE PRODUCTS
OFFERED BY SHRIRAM LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY,
HYDERABAD” is being submitted by ANNE LIKHITHA bearing register
number 1880003 student of II year belongs to FBS BUSINESS SCHOOL,
Vijayawada under my guidance in partial fulfillment for the award of Degree
in MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION during the academic
year 2018-2020.

Mr. Y. Sai Krishna Mr. M.SATYENDRAKUMAR

(Principal) (Project Guide)

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

It is my extreme pleasure doing my report on “Summer Internship Program”.

I would like to thank our college Director, Mr. Siva Krishna Jampani and
also to Mr. Sai Krishna Yalamanchili Principal of FBS Business School.I
express my deep gratitude to “A STUDY OF CONSUMER
AWARENESS ON LIFE INSURANCE PRODUCTS OFFERED BY
SHRIRAM LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY, HYDERABAD” for
allowing me to undertake a project in their company. I would like to extend
my gratitude to Mr.CH.DILIP KUMAR, Digital sales Manager, to every
person who supported and gave me the opportunity to the program and
guided in detail about this endeavor.

I would like to thank my project guide who is a constant source of

encouragement through my project.

ANNE LIKHITHA

(Regd. No: 1880003)

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 CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE
NO

CHAPTER – 1 INTRODUCTION 1-29

CHAPTER – 2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 30-43

CHAPTER – 3 INDUSTRY & COMPANY PROFILE 44 -78

CHAPTER – 4 ANALYSIS & INTERPRETATION 79- 96

CHAPTER – 5 FINDINGS ,SUGGESTIONS & 95-103

CONCLUSIONS

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CHAPTER – 1

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 INTRODUCTION

1.1MEANING OF MARKETING:
Marketing is business terms that have defines in dozens of different
ways .In fact, even at a company level people may perceive the term differently.
Basically, it is a management process through which products and services move
from concept to the customer. It includes identification of a product, determining
demand, deciding on its price, and selecting distribution channels .It also includes
developing and implementing a promotional strategy.

Understanding of Marketing :

Marketing is a general term used to describe the activities that lead to the
sale of our product. It is the process of planning and executing pricing, promotion and
distribution programs to satisfy customer needs. . So marketing is more than just selling a
product or service.

1.2Concepts of Marketing : There are 5 types of Marketing concepts

Societal
Production
marketing
Concept
concept

Marketing Product
concept Concept

Selling
concept

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Production Concept : Consumers will favor products that are available and highly
affordable”. This concept is one of the oldest Marketing management orientations that
guide sellers.Companies adopting this orientation run a major risk of focusing too
narrowly on their own operations and losing sight of the real objective.

Most times; the production concept can lead to marketing myopia. Management focuses
on improving production and distribution efficiency.

Although,in some situations; the production concept is still a useful philosophy.

Product concept : The product concept holds that the consumers will favor products
that offer the most in quality, performance and innovative features .Here under this
concept, Marketing strategies are focused on making continuous product improvements.
Product quality and improvement are important parts of marketing strategies, sometimes
the only part. Targeting only on the company’s products could also lead to marketing
myopia.

Selling concept: The aim is to sell what the company makes rather than making what
the market wants. Such aggressive selling program carries very high risks.In selling
concept the marketer assumes that customers will be coaxed into buying the product will
like it, if they don’t like it, they will possibly forget their disappointment and buy it again
later. This is usually very poor and costly assumption.Typically the selling concept is
practiced with unsought goods. Unsought goods are that buyers do not normally think of
buying, such as insurance or blood donations.These industries must be good at tracking
down prospects and selling them on a product’s benefits.

Marketing concept : Under the marketing concept, customer focus and value are the
routes to achieve sales and profits. The marketing concept is a customer-centered “sense
and responds” philosophy. The job is not to find the right customers for your product but
to find the right products for your customers.

The marketing concept and the selling concepts are two extreme concepts and totally

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 Starting point Focus Means Ends

The selling Factory Existing Selling and Profits through

concept products promoting sales volume

The marketing Market Customer needs Integrating Profits through

concept marketing customer
satisfaction

Societal marketing concept : The societal marketing concept holds “marketing

strategy should deliver value to customers in a way that maintains or improves both the
consumer’s and society’s well-being”.It calls for sustainable marketing, socially and
environmentally responsible marketing that meets the present needs of consumers and
businesses while also preserving or enhancing the ability of future generations to meet
their needs.The Societal Marketing Concept puts Human welfare on top before profits
and satisfying the wants.

WHAT IS MARKETING?

Marketing covers many areas:

Public
relations
Online
Branding
marketing

Publicity Advertising

Marketing
Social
Pricing
media

Strategy Research
Direct
marketing

Fig: Focus Areas of marketing

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 At the core of marketing is an understanding of what customers need and value .A
company long -Term success depends on learning what its customers’ needs are. It then
finds ways to add value through different approaches.

1.3ONLINE MARKETING:

Online marketing is a set of tools and methodologies used for promoting products and
services through the internet. Online marketing includes a wider range
of marketing elements than traditional business marketing due to the extra channels
and marketing mechanisms available on the internet. Online marketing serves as the
backbone for every customer interaction.

TYPES OF ONLINE-MARKETING:

 Email-Marketing: It gives you a direct line to current, past, and prospective customers.
As you release new digital products, you can make your audience aware of them.
 BannerAdvertising :: A banner ad’s typically leads to a sales or landing page. We can
run banner advertisements on websites that attract members of your audience to produce
great results.
 Social media: Now -a-days everyone is on social media. Most people use Facebook,
Twitter, Instagram, and the other major players to share news with their friends and family
members. Some have built their business exclusively around their social media activity.
 Blogging: We can also spend our time writing content for our audience. Think of
blogging as a way to not only attract our customers, but also to retain them. We’re
showing that we’re actively engaged in our business and willing to join in on
conversations.

ADVANTAGES OF ONLINE-MARKETING:

 Establish of our brand:

With online marketing, branding becomes much easier because we can reach
people organically or through advertising to through our brand image. Plus, we don’t have
to wait weeks or months for outbound or offline strategies to take hold.
• Easy to build Following:
We can build a own following based on our business culture and online
marketing strategies. In fact, consumers can turn into brand ambassadors overnight if we
impress them and make it worth their while to follow you.
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 LIMITATIONS OF ONLINE-MARKETING:

1. Dependability on technology
2. Security, privacy issues
3. Maintenance costs due to a constantly evolving environment.
Online marketing has become an essential pursuit for business all over the world.
If we are not online, we probably won’t be found by your target customers.
Fortunately, we have lots of ways to get involved with online marketing. From
social media and blog posts to PPC and banner advertising, we can pick and choose the
mediums that align best with your business model.
Best of all, we can do online marketing in just five simple steps. Set your goals,
choose our primary platform, develop a strategy, build our content, and measure our
progress.

1.4 ADVERTISING:

Advertising is that part of marketing that involves directly

getting the word out about your business, product, or service to those you want to reach
most. Advertising includes the placement in such mediums as newspapers, magazines,
direct mail, TV, radio, and online.

Difference between Advertising and Marketing:

Advertising is a component of marketing. Marketing refers to

preparing a product for the marketplace. Advertising is making your product and service
known to an audience or marketplace. In a way, marketing is both research and practice,
while advertising is straight practice.  Marketing involves consumer behaviour and
marketing research, while advertising involves creative endeavours like design and
multimedia production.

Types of Advertising:

Display adds, social media adds, newspapers and magazines,

outdoor advertising, radio and podcasts, direct mail, video adds, product placement, event
marketing and email marketing.

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 Role of Advertising in Marketing:
 Advertising is a part of marketing, in order to raise awareness and create interest in the
brand. It creates brand awareness and helps to informs the customers about the brands
available in the market and the variety of products useful to them.
 Advertising is important to Consumers:
Advertising helps a business to earn profits by enabling more people to know about the
products and services and thus resulting in more sales.  Advertisements help
the consumers to make decisions regarding which product and service to buy. With the
help of advertisements, a consumer gets the best possible options.

1.4 PUBLIC RELATIONS:

It involves a variety of programs designed to maintain or enhance a company's image and

the products and services it offers.

Objective of public relations: The main objective of public relations is to maintain

a positive reputation of the brand and maintain a strategic relationship with the public,
prospective customers, partners, investors, employees and other stakeholders which leads
to a positive image of the brand and makes it seem honest, successful, important, and
relevant.

TYPES OF PUBLIC RELATIONS:

Media Relations: Establishing a good relationship with the media organizations and
acting as their content source.

Investor Relations: Handling investor’s events, releasing financial reports and

regulatory filings, and handling investors, analysts and media queries and complaints.

Government Relations:  Representing the brand to the government with regard to

fulfilment of policies like corporate social responsibility, fair competition, consumer
protection, employee protection

Community Relations: Handling the social aspect of the brand and establishing a
positive reputation in the social niche like environment protection, education etc.,

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Internal relations: Counselling the employees of the organization with regards to
policies, course of action, organization’s responsibility and their responsibility. Co
operating with them during special product launches and events.

Customer Relations: Handling relationship with the target market lead

consumers. Conducting market research to know more about interests, attitudes, and
priorities of the customers and crafting strategies to influence the same using earned
media

Marketing Communications: Supporting marketing efforts relating to product launch,

special campaigns Brand awareness and positioning.

ADVANTAGES OF PUBLIC RELATIONS:

• Credibility: Public trusts the message coming from a trusted third party more
than the advertised content. 
• Reach:  A good public relations strategy can attract many news outlets, exposing
the content to a large audience.
• Cost effectiveness: It is a cost effective technique to reach large audience as
compared to paid promotion.

LIMITATIONS OF PUBLIC RELATIONS:

• Hard To Measure Success:  It is really hard to measure and evaluate the

effectiveness of a Public relation campaign.

• No guaranteed results: Publishing of a press release isn’t guaranteed as the

brand doesn’t pay for it. The media outlet publishes it only if it feels that It’ll
attract its target audience. Public relations is a strategic communication process
companies, individuals, and organizations use to build mutually beneficial
relationships with the public

1.6 SOCIAL MEDIA:

Social media marketing (SMM) refers to techniques that target social
networks and applications to spread brand awareness or promote particular
products. Social media marketing campaigns usually centre on.

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 Need for social media in marketing:

• A strong social media presence builds brand loyalty.

• Social media is the perfect addition to your PR strategy.

• Social media is key to customer service. Quick customer response time isn't
optional anymore

Advantages of social media marketing

 Increased Brand Awareness

 More Inbound Traffic

 Improved Search Engine Rankings
 Higher Conversion Rates.
 Better Customer Satisfaction.
 Improved Brand Loyalty.
 More Brand Authority.
 Cost-Effective

Importance of social media in marketing:

1. Marketing through social media can help increase brand recognition:

Another benefit of marketing through social media is that it helps you improve
visibility, and thus increase recognition for your brand. Your business social media
profiles present new opportunities to share your content and really present your brand’s
voice and personality.

2. Marketing through social media increases your inbound traffic:

The more quality content that we post on our social media channels, the more
opportunities have to engage new leads and direct them back to our website.

3.  Social media marketing helps improve brand loyalty:

While larger companies can afford to build big and expensive customer loyalty
programs, small businesses have to rely on other, more affordable methods for building
brand loyalty. Social media is an effective way to build relationships with leads and
customers that lead to greater satisfaction and loyalty over time. 
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4. Marketing through social media can help you improve brand
authority:

The more valuable content you are sharing on social media, the more you
opportunities you have to demonstrate your expertise to leads and customers. When
others share your content with their fans and followers or mention your brand in their
posts, this helps build your brand authority even further. The more that social media users
talk about your brand, the more valuable your brand will seem to others. This will inspire
new audience members to see what your business is all about and even follow your
company for your updates and insights.

5. Different social media channels help you reach specific audiences:

Another benefit of social media marketing is that we are able to strategically

target different audiences based on the channels that our brand is active on. Rather than
just putting your marketing message out there for everyone to see, we can reach your
target market and work to drive more qualified leads back to our site.

6. Consumers will be more receptive to our messages when marketing

through social media:

Users are active on social media platforms because these channels offer a fun
and easy way to network, keep in touch with friends and family, and stay connected with
what’s going on in the world. Social media is one of the most stress-free and profitable
digital marketing platforms that can be used to increase your business visibility. By
applying a social media strategy, it will help you significantly increase your brand
recognition.

1.7 RESEARCH IN MARKETING:

The process of gathering, analyzing and interpreting information about

a market, about a product or service to be offered for sale in that market, and about the
past, present and potential customers for the product or service; research into the
characteristics, spending habits, location and needs of our .

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 TYPES OF RESEARCH IN MARKETING:

 Market Segmentation: When conducting market segmentation studies we're

generally asking survey questions aimed at capturing needs, values, attitudes, behaviours
and demographics
 Product Testing.
 Advertising Testing.
 Satisfaction and Loyalty Analysis.
 Brand Awareness and Reach.
 Pricing Research.

ROLE OF MARKET RESEARCH

Marketing research serves marketing management by providing information

which is relevant to decision making. Rather, marketing research helps to reduce the
uncertainty surrounding the decisions to be made. In order to do so effectively, marketing
research has to be systematic, objective and analytical.

METHODS OF RESEARCH:

Survey: As a research method, a survey collects data from subjects who respond to a

series of questions about behaviours and opinions, often in the form of a questionnaire.
The survey is one of the most widely used scientific research methods. The standard
survey format allows individuals a level of anonymity in which they can express personal
ideas.

Field research: The work of sociology rarely happens in limited, confined spaces.
Sociologists seldom study subjects in their own offices or laboratories. Rather,
sociologists go out into the world. They meet subjects where they live, work, and
play. Field research refers to gathering primary data from a natural environment without
doing a lab experiment or a survey. It is a research method suited to an interpretive
framework rather than to the scientific method. To conduct field research, the sociologist
must be willing to step into new environments and observe, participate, or experience .

Secondary data analysis: One of the advantages of secondary data is that it

is nonreactive research influence people’s behaviours. Unlike studies requiring direct
contact with people, using previously published data doesn’t require entering a
population and the investment and risks inherent in that research.

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Using available data does have its challenges. Public records are not always easy to
access. A researcher will need to do some legwork to track them down and gain access to
records. To guide the search through a vast library of materials and avoid wasting time
reading unrelated sources, sociologists employ content analysis, applying a systematic
approach to record and value information gleaned from secondary data as they relate to
the study at hand.

Marketing research serves the purpose of ‘intelligence wing of the marketing

management. Its scope is very broad as compared to market- research. It is concerned
with collection of market information systematically and impartially, analysis and
evaluation of relevant data and use such data for the benefit of the organisation.

 It is concerned with collection of market information systematically and impartially,

analysis and evaluation of relevant data and use such data for the benefit of the
organisation.

Marketing research is the careful and objective study of product design, markets, and
such transfer activities as physical distribution and warehousing, advertising and sales
management.

1.7 DIRECT MARKETING: Direct marketing is a promotional method that

involves presenting information about our company, product, or service to our target
customer without the use of an advertising middleman. It is a targeted form of marketing
that presents information of potential interest to a consumer that has been determined to
be a likely buyer.

FORMS OF DIRECT MARKETING:

 Brochures

 Catalogs
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  Fliers

 Newsletters

 Post cards

 Coupons

 Emails

 Targeted online display ads

 Phone calls

A company that employs direct marketing is directly trying to impact consumers' or

business customers' buying decisions. Direct marketing is a form of communicating an
offer, where organizations communicate directly to a pre-selected customer and supply a
method for a direct response. 

TYPES OF DIRECT MARKETING:

1. Direct mail: Direct mail is posted mail that advertises your business and its
products and services. There are several different types of direct mail (e.g. catalogues,
postcards, envelope mailers).

2. Telemarketing: Telemarketing involves contacting potential customers over the

phone to sell products or services. It is capable of generating new customer prospects in
large volumes and is also a useful tool for following up on direct marketing campaigns.
However, a successful telemarketing involves planning and using accurate and well-
researched customer data to match customer profiles to product profiles.

3. Email marketing: Email marketing is a simple, cost-effective and measurable

way of reaching your customers. It can include newsletters, promotional emails to
generate new leads or offers for existing customers, or ads that can appear in other
business's emails.

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4. Text (SMS) marketing: Text messaging allows businesses to reach individual
customers and send messages to large groups of people at a low cost.we could use short
message service (SMS) messaging to send customers sales alerts, links to website
updates, appointment or delivery reminders, or personalised messaging .

5. Direct selling: Direct selling is an effective way to grow a flexible, low-cost

business. Direct selling involves an independent salesperson selling products or services
directly to customers, often at a customer's home or workplace. Traditional direct selling
methods include door-to-door sales, party plans and network marketing.

6. Social media marketing: Social media can be used effectively as a marketing

tool for business as it gives you the opportunity to interact directly with your customers
and regularly share relevant product or service information.

Direct marketing gives you the opportunity to promote your products and services
directly to the customers who most need them.

1.9 STRATEGY IN MARKETING:

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 Strategic Marketing is the way a firm effectively differentiates itself from its
competitors by capitalising on its strengths to provide consistently better value to

customers than its competitors. There are four marketing strategies:

PRODUCT

PROMOTION MARKETING PRICE

PLACE

Product: A product is a good or service that a business owner provides for sale to his
target market. When it comes to developing a product, the design, quality, packaging,
features, after-sales service, and customer service should be considered.

The 4 Ps of Marketing may seem easy, but they can also be difficult. We may
think that just sell any product that think appeals to our target audience. However, we
need to research and study the market before we can actually figure out what to sell. We
should think carefully of what we are going to offer. Do not forget to define the
characteristics of our service and see to it that we meet the demands and needs of our
customers. Keep in mind that warranty, service, and support are very important

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Price: The price is the amount of money that customers have to pay to purchase
products or avail of services. There are several factors that we have to consider when it
comes to price. These include discounting, price setting, credit collection, and cash and
credit purchases.

Before we invest in a new venture, see to it that we should carefully defined the 4 Ps of
Marketing. Otherwise, we will not be able to achieve stellar results. We should not forget
to practice ethics in pricing either. We can have a poll or send out questionnaires to help
us determine our price.

Place: This is with regard to location, distribution, and ways of delivering the product to
the customer. The place may include the location of our business, distributors, shop front,
possible use of the Internet, and logistics.

It is important for us to have a good understanding of the strategy behind the

positioning or place. We have to make it work for us, even if it means seeing through the
mist of marketers who plan to fog up the minds of customers.

Promotion: Promotion is all about the act of communicating the values and benefits of our
products to our customers. It involves the use of different methods, such as direct marketing, sales
promotion, advertising, and personal selling to persuade customers to your business.

If we want to save money, we should consider self-promotion. Also, when it

comes to creating a promotion for our business, we should motivate our target market.
Put yourself in their shoes so we can find out how they view our business. Keep in mind
that advertising, publicity, and public relations will keep our service or product out front
and ahead of our competition. All these factors are integral parts of promotion.

These 4 Ps of Marketing are very helpful when it comes to starting a business. We

need to have the necessary knowledge and skills in order to be successful in a certain
venture. By learning about the 4 Ps of Marketing, We can avoid typical marketing pitfalls
and have a successful business.

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1.10 PRICING:

Pricing is the method of determining the value a producer will get in the exchange
of goods and services.

Types of pricing strategies:

In terms of the marketing mix some would say that pricing is the least attractive element.
Marketing companies should really focus on generating as high a margin as possible. The
argument is that the marketer should change product, place or promotion in some way
before resorting to pricing reductions.  

1. Penetration Pricing:

The price charged for products and services is set artificially low in order to gain market
share. Once this is achieved, the price is increased. This approach was used by France
Telecom and Sky TV. These companies need to land grab large numbers of consumers to
make it worth their while, so they offer free telephones or satellite dishes at discounted
rates in order to get people to sign up for their services. Once there is a large number of
subscribers prices gradually creep up. Taking Sky TV for example, or any cable or
satellite company, when there is a premium movie or sporting event prices are at their
highest – so they move from a penetration approach to more of a skimming/premium
pricing approach.

2. Economy pricing:

This is a no frills low price. The costs of marketing and promoting a product are kept to a
minimum. Supermarkets often have economy brands for soups, spaghetti, etc. Budget
airlines are famous for keeping their overheads as low as possible and then giving the
consumer a relatively lower price to fill an aircraft. The first few seats are sold at a very
cheap price and the middle majority are economy seats, with the highest price being paid
for the last few seats on a flight. During times of recession economy pricing sees more
sales. However it is not the same as a value pricing approach which we come to shortly.

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3. Price skimming:

Price skimming sees a company charge a higher price because it has a substantial
competitive advantage. However, the advantage tends not to be sustainable. The high
price attracts new competitors into the market, and the price inevitably falls due to
increased supply.

4. Psychological Pricing:

This approach is used when the marketer wants the consumer to respond on an emotional,
rather than rational basis. For example Price Point Perspective (PPP) 0.99 Cents not 1 US
Dollar. It’s strange how consumers use price as an indicator of all sorts of factors,
especially when they are in unfamiliar markets. Consumers might practice a decision
avoidance approach when buying products in an unfamiliar setting, an example being
when buying ice cream. What would you like, an ice cream at $0.75, $1.25 or $2.00? The
choice is yours. Maybe you’re entering an entirely new market. Let’s say that you’re
buying a lawnmower for the first time and know nothing about garden equipment. Would
you automatically by the cheapest? Would you buy the most expensive? Or, would you
go for a lawnmower somewhere in the middle? Price therefore may be an indication of
quality or benefits in unfamiliar markets.

5. Promotional pricing:

Pricing to promote a product is a very common application. There are many examples of
promotional pricing including approaches such as BOGOF (Buy One Get One Free),
money off vouchers and discounts. Promotional pricing is often the subject of
controversy. Many countries have laws which govern the amount of time that a product
should be sold at its original higher price before it can be discounted. Sales are
extravaganzas of promotional pricing.

6. Value pricing:

This approach is used where external factors such as recession or increased competition
force companies to provide value products and services to retain sales e.g. value meals at
McDonalds and other fast-food restaurants.

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1.11PUBLICITY IN MARKETING:

Publicity is the public visibility or awareness for any product, service or company. From
a marketing perspective, publicity is one component of promotion and marketing. The
other elements of the promotional mix are advertising, sales promotion,
direct marketing and personal selling.

Sales promotion is undertaken for a wide variety of purposes. They may include
promotion of new product, pollution control, and special achievements of employees,
publicizing new policies, or increase in sales. It is primarily concerns with publishing or
highlighting company’s activities and products. It is targeted to build company’s image.
In a long run, it can contribute to increase sales.

IMPORTANCE OF PUBLICITY:

 Publicity is an effective medium to disseminate message to the mass with more

credibility. People have more trust on news given by publicity.

 The credibility level of publicity is much higher than advertising and other means
of market promotion. People express more trust on what the third party
independently says. It appears directly through newspapers, magazines, television,
or radio by the third party. It is free frequency 2mom bias.
 It provides more information as the valuable information is free from space and
time constraints. Similarly, publicity takes place immediately.
 No need to wait for time or space in mass media. It enjoys priority.
 The firm is not required to pay for publicity.
 The indirect costs related to publicity are much lower than other means of
promotion.
 It is a part of public relations.
 It is free from exaggeration; it carries more factual information about company.
 It is more trustable.
 It helps establish public relations.
 Generally, publicity covers the varied information. It normally involves name of
company, its goods and services, history, outstanding achievements, and other
similar issues.
 The knowledge is more complete compared to advertisement.
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OBJECTIVES OF PUBLICITY:

1. Building Corporate Image:

Through publicity, a company can build or improve its corporate image. People trust
more on what press reporters, columnists, or newsreaders say via mass media
independently than what the company says. Publicity highlights the company’s name and
operations. It popularizes the name of the company.

2. Economy:
It is a cost saving medium. Here, a company is not required to pay for message
preparation, buying space and time, etc. The cost involved is much lower than other
means of market promotion. Financially poor companies may opt for publicity.

3. Assisting Middlemen and Salesmen:

Publicity can help middlemen and salesmen in performing the sales-related activities
successfully. Information conveyed through publicity speaks a lot of things on behalf of
sellers. Publicity makes selling tasks much easier.

4. Removing Misunderstanding or Bad Image:

Company can defend the product that has encountered public problems. In many cases,
publicity is aimed at removing misunderstanding or bad impression. Whatever a publicity
conveys is more likely to be believed.

5. Newsworthiness Information:
Publicity publicizes the fact in an interesting ways. Publicity is eye-catching in nature.
People do not skip the news presented by publicity that more likely happens in case of
advertising. For example, when a new product is launched by the distinguished
personalities like film star, eminent artist, or cricketer in a grand function, the product
becomes popular within no time.

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1.12 BRANDING:
The marketing practice of creating a name, symbol or design that identifies and
differentiates a product from other products. An effective brand strategy gives you a
major edge in increasingly competitive markets.

A Brand Concept is a general idea and an abstract meaning behind the brand working as

its true essence and character that gives the consistency to the brand and curates a
distinctive identity in the market and in the minds of the consumers.

Branding consists of a set of complex branding decisions. Major brand strategy decisions

involve brand positioning, brand name must included for a selection, brand sponsorship
and brand development. Before going into the four branding decisions, also called brand
strategy decisions, we should clarify what a brand actually.

TYPES OF BRANDS:

1. Corporate brand:
The overall parent company must have its own brand that people recognize for quality
and its good reputation. This is useful when launching new product brands or product
lines.

2. Individual brand:
Individual products or product lines must have their own established brands. This is
useful when a corporation or organization has multiple services, including services that at
the surface may not seem to have a lot in common.

3. Personal brand:
Developing a personal brand can be as important for an individual as it is for a company
or product line. Personal branding is vital for salesmen, job seekers. Anyone who wants
to deal with the business world. It’s your reputation .

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Hierarchy of brand awareness:

Stage 1: Awareness - The consumer becomes aware of a category, product or brand

(usually through advertising)

Stage 2: Knowledge - The consumer learns about the brand (e.g. sizes, colours, prices,
availability etc)

Stage 3: Liking - The consumer develops a favourable/unfavourable disposition towards

the brand

Stage 4: Preference - The consumer begins to rate one brand above other comparable
brands

Stage 5: Conviction - The consumer demonstrates a desire to purchase (via inspection,

sampling, trial)

Stage 6: Purchase - The consumer acquires the product

1.13 AWARENESS IN MARKETING:

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Brand awareness refers to the extent to which customers are able to recall or recognise a
brand. Brand awareness is a key consideration in consumer behaviour, advertising
management, brand management and strategy development. 

Brand awareness is a marketing term that describes the degree of consumer recognition of

a product by its name. Creating brand awareness is a key step in promoting a new product
or reviving an older brand. Ideally, awareness of the brand may include the qualities that
distinguish the product from its competition .

RAISING AWARENESS IN MARKETING:

 Host Educational Events.

 Host Social Events.

 Organize a Service Project.

 News jack.

 Be the Helpful Friend.

 Distribute Brochures or Inserts.

 Be the Trusted Expert.

 Share Your Gratitude.

 It as a state where in a subject is aware of some information when that information is
directly available to bring to bear in the direction of a wide range of behavioural
promotion.

A marketing concept that encompasses a customer's impression, awareness and/or

consciousness about a company or its offerings. Customer perception is typically affected
by advertising, reviews, public relations, social media, personal experiences and other
channels.

Perception can be defined as our recognition and interpretation of sensory information.

Perception also includes how we respond to the information. We can think
of perception as a process where we take in sensory information from our environment
and use that information in order to interact with our environment.

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1.14 Consumer Awareness :

Meaning : Consumer Awareness is an act of making sure the buyer or consumer is

aware of the information about products, goods, services,
and consumers rights. Consumer awareness is important so that buyer can take the right
decision and make the right choice.

The understanding by an individual of their rights as a consumer concerning available

products and services being marketed and sold. The concept involves four categories
including safety,choice,information and the right to be heard.

Aim of consumer awareness :

Consumer Awareness is an act of making sure the buyer or consumer is aware of the
information about products, goods, services, and consumers rights. Consumer
awareness is important so that buyer can take the right decision and make the right
choice.

Importance of consumer awareness :

1. To achieve maximum satisfaction : The income of every individual is

limited. He wants to buy maximum goods and services with his income. He gets full
satisfaction only by this limited adjustment. Therefore it is necessary that he should get
the goods which are measured appropriately and he should not be cheated in any way.
For this he should be made aware.

2. Protection against exploitation : Producers and sellers exploit the consumers

in many ways as underweighting,taking more price than the marketprice, selling
duplicate goods etc.. Big companies through their advertisement also mislead the
consumers.

3. Control over consumption of harmful goods : There are several such goods
available in market which cause harm to some consumers. For example we can take
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goods like cigarette, tobacco, liquor etc. The consumer education and awareness motivate
people not to purchase such goods which are very harmful for them.

4. Motivation for saving : The awareness controls people from wasatage of money
and extravagancy and inspire them to take right decision.Such consumers are not
attracted by sale,concession,free gifts,attractive packing etc.

5. Knowledge regarding solution of problems : The consumers are cheated

due to illiteracy,innocence and lack of information.Therefore it becomes necessary that
the information about their rights should be provided to them so that thay cannot be
cheated by producers.

6. Construction of healthy society : Every member of the society is a

consumer.So,if the consumer is aware and rationale,then complete society becomes
healthy and alert towards their rights.

Rights of consumers

Consumers have the right to buy good commodities an services from the market.The
protection of law has been provided to him so that producer or seller cannot cheat him in
any way.Generally a consumer has got the following rights:

1. Right to safety: This is essential for producers that they should obey the rules
related to the safety of consumers. The reason is if the producers do not obey safety rules
then the consumer may have to bear a big risk. For example in pressure cooker there is a
safety valve which if faulty can lead to a fatal accident. The manufacturers of the safety
valves should fix a high quality for it.

2. Right to Choose: A consumer has the right to select any goods or services when
he buys it. Suppose you purchase a gas connection and the gas dealer compels you to buy
the burner also along with gas connection, but you want to buy gas connection only , and
there is no requirement of the burner. In this situation your right to selection is not
followed. The reason is that the seller pressurizes you to buy that thing which you do not
want to buy. In this situation you can take legal action against the seller .

3. Right to be informed: When we purchase any product we see that some special
information is written on the packet. Such as – batch number of the commodity,
manufacturing date, expiry date, address of manufacturing company of the good etc.
When we purchase any medicine, then we get the direction regarding the side effects and
31
dangers of the medicines. When we purchase clothes, then we should have the washing
directions. It is necessary to provide important information because consumers are given
right to obtain information about things and services which they buy.

4. Right to information: In the year 2005, the government of India has made law
known as right to information. The right to information law provides the right to get the
information about all the activities of the government departments. The consumers also
have right to get the consumers education.

Stages of consumer awareness

Un Most
Aware Aware

Problem Product
Aware Aware

Solution
Aware

1.Most aware : At this stage, the prospect is well aware of their problem or desire,
they heard about your product, understand that you product offers a solution and,
ultimately they want your product. But for some reason, they have not purchased it
yet.Prospect at this stage are your biggest fan and your most valuable audience. Your

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goal here is to engage them and make sure they know about what your products and
services offer. These are your potential customers that are going to make the first
purchase, spread the words to their love ones and the ones who want to hear from you as
often as possible.

2.Product aware : At this stage, the prospect is aware of a certain problem or desire
and is aware that a solution exists (familiar with your competitor’s offerings). However,
they are unfamiliar with your product or brand.They are not sure what you offer is right
for them. They do not want just any information, but they want to know if your product/
services is tailored to their specific needs.

3.Solution aware : At this stage, the prospect understand that there are products/
services that offers solutions to solve their pain. But they do not know what is right for
their particular circumstances. These prospects are advice seekers. They may have arrived
your page via your blog or through referrals from another blog. They may know who you
are, but they don’t trust you yet.

 4.Problem aware : At this stage the prospect knows that they have a pain. They are
researching.If someone were to ask me how to reattach a windshield wiper, I am
definitely turning to Google on this. Why? Because I do not have a solution for that, but I
do know that Google has this information. Here’s the stage where you identify your target
market and understand the problems that they face.

5.Unaware : At this stage, the prospect has no familiarity with your product/ idea and
is not aware/ or hasn’t identified on their own problem. This is the most difficult yet most
scale able level of customer awareness. The unaware market is the mass market, and the
sky is the limit.

 How to increase consumer awareness :

Step 1: Teach customers they do have a problem or need

Step 2: Teach customers the basic solution to the problem

Step 3 : selling
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Step 1: Teach customers they do have a problem or need :

Making consumers aware of a problem can be a little tricky when they don’t know or
care too much about it. Emotional or logical responses are the best ways to inform them.
The focus needs to be on them at this stage, not our business.

Step 2: Teach customers the basic solution to the problem :

This is not a hard or even a soft selling phase. We are simply educating the consumer.
We can do this by showing them our product or service is the single best way to solve
their problem or meet their needs. Do this by focusing on the customer. Don’t try and
sell.

Step 3: Selling :

If we played our cards right, we should now have a clear way to pitch the sell. our
customer has now been taught they have a problem and they know our business can
easily provide them with a solution. Now we have to convince them to buy the solution
from us and not the competition! Now we can start listing reasons why our business is the
better choice.This method of marketing is an excellent way to inform consumers about a
particular product or service they may not even know exists. If we follow these steps
closely and tailor them to your specific products or services, we should have a very easy
sale on our hands, driven entirely by consumer awareness.

Innovative ways to increase consumer awareness:

1.Get influencers to display your art or other product : Inviting influencers

into our niche is a great way to increase brand awareness and hopefully drive sales. When
influencers have an established audience that knows and trusts them, once they mention
our product(s) and discuss our brand in their content, those mentions will expand our
reach and increase people’s awareness of our product.

Ikonick is a perfect example of a company that works directly with influencers: It sells
canvas art for our home and office. The way Ikonick uses influencers involves providing
them with art and having those influencers pose with the art, then share the photos on
social media.

2. Use branded packaging : Have we ever received an order that came in branded
packaging? Rather than see it as just another shipment, perhaps we felt that special
branding made the package seem like a gift.Packlane is a company that allows
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companies to design custom packaging, using their own logo and branding to enhance the
customer experience. The team has created unique boxes for L'Oreal, HP, Shopify and
RedBull, to name a few.The team knows that the product experience doesn't commence at
first use, but rather at the unboxing stage. How companies present their brand, and the
story they tell through their design and graphics, can create an emotional connection with
the customer that may last even longer than the product itself. Branded packaging offers
an additional touch point to the value our brand gives to each customer’s experience, and
helps distinguish us from market place competitors. Overlooking our product’s packaging
is a missed branding opportunity in today’s ultra-competitive market landscape. 

3. SEO research :Majority of consumers don’t look past the first page of search
results, and the majority of people in that group don’t look past the first few results on the
page?Think about how powerful that SEO is for companies pitching to prospects. If
competitors are all citing the same information, though, it loses some of its power
because of all those companies trying to get new clients. 

Researching SEO strategies related to our niche, products or services can help us increase
brand awareness. This research will set apart as an expert and leader in our industry.
Jaaxy.com is a great tool that helps us conduct the right type of research because it
provides specific keyword research.

4. Double-down on social : Instagram is a social media platform with power. It’s

said that a picture is worth a thousand words, and Instagram lets promote our story via
the image(s) we post and the text we narrate. It’s a great tool for friends and family to
keep up with one other, and it's just as good for brands reaching out to their
consumers.Azazie sells bridesmaids' and bridal wedding gowns. To do that, it's become
hyper-focused on growing its social communities, especially on Instagram.The reason is
that on that platform, the company can ask new brides to share images of their special day
and their experiences with Azazie's dresses. Not surprisingly, Azazie's Instagram page is
full of beautiful photos that inspire other brides-to-be to imagine themselves in one of its
gowns.

5. Step up our game on Twitter : Twitter is yet another big social media platform
for awareness because it helps us  publish news and interact with customers already
talking about our business. Wendy’s for instance, has built a reputation on Twitter and

35
increased its brand awareness by responding to media mentions of its brand, as well as
competitors’ posts with quips, sassy and hilarious remarks. 

To conclude, people are concerned about different aspects of consumer awareness i.e.

their rights and duties, certified products, MRP, date of manufacturing and expiry of the
products they used, Consumer Courts etc as far as urban area is concerned. They must
have awareness about their rights and duties.

CHAPTER-2

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

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2.1 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research is the process of gathering information for the purpose of

initiating, modifying or terminating a particular investment or group of investments.

Research methodology is the technique or certain specific

procedure used to identify select, process and analyze information about a topic.

Research methodology chapter of a research describes

research methods, approaches and designs in detail highlighting those used throughout
the study.

Research comprises “creative work undertaken on a

systematic basis in order to increase the stock of knowledge, including knowledge of
man, culture and society, and the use of this stock of knowledge to devise new
applications”. It is used to establish or confirm facts, reaffirm the results of previous
work, solve new or existing problems, support theorems, or develop new theories. A
research project may also be an expansion on past work in the field. To test the validity of
instruments, procedures, or experiments, research may replicate elements of prior
projects, or the project as a whole. The primary purposes of basic research (as opposed to
applied research) are documentation, discovery, interpretation, or the research and
development (R&D) of methods and systems for the advancement of human knowledge.
Approaches to research depend on epistemologies, which vary considerably both within
and between humanities and sciences.

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 There are several forms of research: scientific, humanities,
artistic, economic, social, business, marketing, practitioner research, etc.

Research Process: Research process is a systematic manner in which

researcher approaches their area of study to produce knowledge. The research process
involves identifying, locating, assessing and analyzing the information which will be
related to our research questions and then developing and expressing the ideas.

Research Design:

A research design is a framework that has been created to find answers

to research questions.

Types of research design

 Descriptive design

 Experimental design

 Qualitative method

Descriptive Design: Descriptive research design is a study designed to depict the

participants in an accurate way. In simple terms descriptive research is all about
describing people who take part in the study. There are three ways a researcher can go
about doing a descriptive research project. Observational, defined as a method of viewing
and recording the participants.

Experimental Design: It refers to how participants are allocated to the different

conditions in an experiment. Probably the commonest way to design an experiment in
psychology is to divide the participants into two groups, the experimental groups, and the
control group, and then introduce a change to the experimental group and not the control
group.

Qualitative Method: Qualitative research provides in-depth information and it is a

naturalistic inquiry understanding of social phenomena. Qualitative researchers use
38
multiple systems of inquiry for the study of human phenomena including biography, case
study, historical analysis and theory. The 3 major focus areas are individuals, societies
and cultures, language and communication.

Quantitative method :

It is a survey research wear by a researcher poses sum set of predetermined

questions to an entire group, or sample , of individuals.

Steps involved in Research process :

Identify the problem

Review of the literature

Clarify the problem

Clearly define the terms and concepts.

Define the population

Develop the instrumental plan

Collect data

39
 Analyze the data

Step 1 Identify the problem : The first step in the process is to identify a problem or
develop a research question. The research problem may be something the agency
identifies as a problem, some knowledge or information that is needed by the agency, or
the desire to identify a recreation trend nationally. 

Step 2 Review of the literature : Now that the problem has been identified, the
researcher must learn more about the topic under investigation. To do this, the researcher
must review the literature related to the research problem. This step provides foundational
knowledge about the problem area. The review of literature also educates the researcher
about what studies have been conducted in the past, how these studies were conducted,
and the conclusions in the problem area.

Step 3 Clarify the problem : In step 3 of the process, the researcher clarifies the
problem and narrows the scope of the study. This can only be done after the literature has
been reviewed. The knowledge gained through the review of literature guides the
researcher in clarifying and narrowing the research project. 

Step 4 clearly define the terms and concepts : Terms and concepts are words or
phrases used in the purpose statement of the study or the description of the study. These
items need to be specifically defined as they apply to the study. Terms or concepts often
have different definitions depending on who is reading the study. To minimize confusion
about what the terms and phrases mean, the researcher must specifically define them for
the study.

Step 5 Define the population: Research projects can focus on a specific group of people,
facilities, park development, employee evaluations, programs, financial status, marketing
efforts, or the integration of technology into the operations. 

Step 6 Develop the instrumental plan : The plan for the study is referred to as the
instrumentation plan. The instrumentation plan serves as the road map for the entire
study, specifying who will participate in the study; how, when, and where data will be
collected; and the content of the program. 

Step 7 Collect data : Once the instrumentation plan is completed, the actual study
begins with the collection of data. The collection of data is a critical step in providing the
information needed to answer the research question. 

40
Step 8 Analyze data : All the time, effort, and resources dedicated to steps 1 through 7
of the research process culminate in this final step. The researcher finally has data to
analyze so that the research question can be answered. In the instrumentation plan, the
researcher specified how the data will be analyzed. The researcher now analyzes the data
according to the plan. The results of this analysis are then reviewed and summarized in a
manner directly related to the research questions. 

Methodology used for the study

Market Research to be an effective tool for analyzing the customer satisfaction for the
products. In other words, market research should ideally be the starting point on any
marketing exercise. Conducting any marketing exercise is it related to pricing, promotion
or distribution of a product or service.

Market research provides the answers to all the questions that generally occupy the minds
of marketers, at every stage of the marketing process.

Sampling Design Sampling:

Sampling is a process used in statistical analysis in which a predetermined

number of observations are taken from a larger population.

An intergral component of a research design is sampling plan. Specifically, it addresses

three questions:

1. Whom to survey (the sample Unit)?

2. How many to survey (the sample size)?

3. How to select them (the sampling procedure)?

Sampling Unit: A single unit selected to act as a sample for the whole group. A decision
has to be taken concerning a sample unit before selecting sample. Sample unit may be

41
geographical one such as State, District and Village etc. The researcher will have to
decide one or more unit that has to select for his study.

Sample Size: Sample size measures the number of individual samples measured or
observations used in a survey or experiment.

Sampling Procedure: Sampling is a process or technique of choosing a sub-group from a

population to participate in the study. There are two major sampling procedures in
research. Probability and non-probability sampling.

Probability sampling is known as random sampling or chance sampling. Under this

sampling design every item of the universe has equal chance or probability.

 Sample random sampling

 Systematic sampling

 Stratified sampling

 Cluster and Area sampling

 Sequential sampling

 Multi stage sampling

Non Probability Sampling is also known as deliberate sampling, purposive and

judgmental sampling. Non probability samplings are those that do not provide every item
in the universe with a known chance of being include in the sample.

Non probabilities are of following types:

 Convenience sampling

 Quota sampling

 Judgmental sampling

 Panel sampling.
42
 Sampling technique Random sampling

Sample size 100 Respondents

Method Customer relationship towards the

company,Tele calls,

Tool used for interview Structure questionnare

Data analysis method Tabulation,chart,interpretation

Area of survey Telangana

Charts Bar chart

2.2 SOURCES OF DATA Two types of data helped in the completion of the project.

Primary data: The data is collected by keeping meetings.

43
Secondary Data: This data is a second hand data; it is collected from the internet and
also from the company’s books, company’s brochure..etc.

Sampling Technique used: Judgment sample or expert sample is a type of random

sample that is selected based on the opinion of an expert. Judgmental sampling is one
where the researcher chooses the sample based on who they think would be appropriate
for the study.

Data collection Method: Structured Questionnaire method seemed most satisfactory for
collecting information from the people. Data is collected by personally interviewing
individuals (face-to- face), recording their answers in a structured questionnaire. A set of
questions having different segments such as Product Performance, Service, and
Perception etc. formed the questionnaire.

Scaling techniques used for preparing questions Generally the questions were designed
with the Likert Scale, where the degree of options for the answer ranging from lowest to
highest or vice-versa, with each option associated with a brief description.

2.3 Summary of Research problem :

Research problem “A study of consumer awareness on life

insurance products offered by shriram life
insurance”

Research type Quantitative Research

Sampling technique Random samping

Sampling unit Customers from India

Sample size 100 units

Customer type Business persons,Employees,Peer group

Method Customer relationship towards the

company,Telecalls

44
2.4Objectives of the study :

• To study how Life Insurance works in real-time scenario.

• To analyse the brand awareness of SHLIC among the customers.
• To understand risk and return performed by customer.
• To analyze the relationship between income levels and the policy premium.
• To analyze the promotional strategy used in SHLIC.

2.5 NEED FOR THE STUDY:

• The study is to take a survey in the market about the policies and identify what is
their in the customer mind for taking a policy.
• We can even know how much preferred risk the customer risk the customer is
expecting.
• No of customers are willing to purchase the product through awareness.
• Customers are online ,offline.
• Businesses make a decision based on data collection and management.
• Social media is an ever-growing marketing platform .
• Mobile is a 24/7 marketing tool.

2.6 IMPORTANCE OF THE STUDY:

The present market is dominated by many service sector organizations

and then is huge scope and many prospects are available in service sector Organizations.

45
 The study will be able to reveal the preferences,needs,perception of the
customers regarding the life insurance products, It also help the insurance companies to
know whether the existing products are really satisfying the customer needs.

2.7Period of the study :

The project was started on 11-07-2019 to 22-09-2019.What I learnt in project

was
About the company : Company formation.
Company rules, policies.
Awareness of the company products: Assured income plus.
Assured income plan.
Growth plus.

Digital sales: Giving awareness to the customers about the company through online and
generating leads through online.

Market survey: Awareness of the company.

Presentations: Preparing presentations and giving it to the customers.

Consumer behaviour: It refers to the actions of the consumers in the market place and
the underlying motives for those actions.

Customer relationship: The development of an on-going connection between a

company and its customers.

Roleplay : pretending to be in a specific situation that you are not actually in at that time.

Add- making concept: A creative concept is a broad big idea that captures audience.

Making connections: senior employees, clients, fellow interns etc., for these people can
provide guidance, advice and help in future.

Independence : Internship taught to make my own decisions and do things on my own.

Professional communications: It is the best way to learn how to navigate the working
world through real –life.

New found knowledge : Knowing how to fulfil tasks and sharpening the skills that
what we have.

46
2.8 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY:
• Mostly the data is related to the primary data.
• To collect the data from the respondents is difficult task
• As digitalization is new in insurance customers are confused to take the policies.

2.9Review of literature :

Dr. Subashini, G in his paper “AN EMPIRICAL STUDY ON THE AWARENESS

OF GENERAL INSURANCE AMONG SMALL ENTREPRENEURS”, deals with
Insurance as it is one which gives the security for the existing status and protects
from the uncertainty of expected outcome. The entire world becomes a small village
due to the Globalization and Liberalization which made tremendous changes in the
General insurance in India. There are many companies are entering into the Indian
insurance industry and there by increased the competition. In this connection it is the
big task to the General insurers to give innovative and customized new Insurance
products to the customers. But more than that it is very essential and complex task to
the Insurers is to Create Awareness to the customers regarding their insurance
products. Product awareness in the customers which determines the success of the
firm and fulfills their purpose of existence. The present paper attempts to identify
customers awareness on the general insurance products, sources for insurance
awareness, Impact of Customers Awareness on buying behavior of general

47
 insurance product among the Small Scale entrepreneurs were analyzed with a
sample respondents of 304 from Chittoor District, Andhra Pradesh, India.

2. C. Meera and D. M. Eswari (2011), in their paper explored a study on customer

satisfaction towards cross selling of insurance products and supplementary services
in Coimbatore district, centers around the dependent variable customer usage
behavior and their relationship with the related independent variables such as Age,
Gender, Marital status, Education, Occupation, Family Income, No. of years
banking and Frequency of Visit to bank. Statistical tools ANOVA and Garrett
ranking were used and reveled that cross selling of insurance product is not
influenced by age of respondent but have strong opinion on cross selling of
insurance product is associated with education (UG), occupation (Business), and
frequency of bank visit.

3.Anand Prakash, Sanjay Kumar Jha and S. P. Kallurkar, the research describe
Indians attitude towards service quality for life insurance business presented through
different demographical factors. This research reveals that, type of customer
personality, age, gender, levels of education, and monthly income influence the
attitude towards the service quality and also provides the research implications
useful for business transformation and further development of research on service
quality.

4. B. Das, S. Mohanty & Nikhil Chandra Shil, (2008), examined Behavior of Retail
Investors in Mutual Fund vs. Life Insurance. 100 interviews were made from two
metros of Orissa Viz.; Cuttack and Bhubaneswar. This research fins that, although
the investment patterns provide more or less the same services, there exist
differences depending on the education level of investors. It was also found that male
investors are more compared to female investors. Maximum investors like to invest
in life insurance among which LIC is no. 1 followed by mutual fund and government
saving schemes. It also reveals that Government servant invest more in life
insurance.

5.Tajzadeh Namin A. A. ; Rahmani Vahid ; Tajzadeh Namin Aidin (2012) analysed

that the process of deciding over (choosing) a brand may be influenced by situation
48
 and content. The findings suggest a significant relationship between the variables
“brand attitude”, “corporate attitude”, and “product (cell phone) choice”. In addition,
no significant relationship was found between individual decision making processes
(independent or mediated) and product choice.

6.Serkan Aydin, Gökhan Özer, Ömer Arasil, (2005) had focused on to measure the
effects of customer satisfaction and trust on customer loyalty, and the direct and
indirect effect of “switching cost” on customer loyalty. The findings of this study
show that the switching cost factor directly affects loyalty, and has a moderator
effect on both customer satisfaction and trust

7. Jonathan, Lee ,Janghyuk, Lee and Lawrence, Feick, (2001) analysed that
moderating role of switching costs in the customer satisfaction-loyalty link; and to
identify customer segments and to retain them. Thus the purposes of this paper are:
to examine the moderating role of switching costs in the customer satisfaction-
loyalty link; and to identify customer segments and then analyze the heterogeneity in
the satisfaction-loyalty link among the different segments. An empirical example
based on the mobile phone service market in France indicates support for the
moderating role of switching costs. Managerial implications of the results are
discussed.

Armstrong G and Kotler P- Marketing : An Introduction

Marketing is managing profitable customer relationships, the twofold goal of marketing

is to attract new customers by promising superior value and to keep and grow current
customers by delivering satisfaction”

49
 CHAPTER 3

INDUSTRY & COMPANY PROFILE

50
INDUSTRY PROFILE:

Service sector : A business that does work for a customer, and occasionally provides
goods, but is not involved in manufacturing.

Meaning of service sector : The Service Sector, also called tertiary sector, is the

third of the three traditional economic sectors. Activities in the service sector include
retail, banks, hotels, real estate, education, health, social work, computer services,
recreation, media, communications, electricity, gas and water supply.

Types of industries : There are mainly three types of industries. They are as follows:

1.Primary

2.Secondary

3.Teritary (service sector)

Primary sector : Primary industry is defined as an industry that is concerned with

extracting the natural resources on the earth so that they can be converted into
51
consumable products. It can be the mining of natural resources like wood, iron, coal,
minerals, agriculture industry, and even fisheries.Both the non-renewable and renewable
resources are harvested from the planet Earth so that the Secondary industry can
manufacture finished products, and the Tertiary industry can easily sell in the consumer
market.

Secondary sector : Secondary industries are those that take the raw materials produced
by the primarysector and process them into manufactured goods andproducts. Examples
of secondary industries include heavy manufacturing, light manufacturing, food
processing, oil refining and energy production.

Teritary sector : The tertiary sector covers a wide range of activities from commerce
to administration, transport, financial and real estate activities, business and personal
services, education, health and social work.

Example of primary ,secondary,tertiary sectors:

Primary sector Second-ary sector Teritary sector

Manufacturing of

Agriculture,Fishing,Mining,Quarrying,F steels,Food processing,oil Transportation,Ban-

orestry,pe-troleum. refining,light manfac-turing. king,Insur-
ance,doctors,couriers,hospit
ality industry.

Role of service sector:Service sector provides finance, marketing, transport,

insurance for the development of the agriculture sector. The expansion of service
sector activities boost the secondary sector activities as well. Service sector can play a
major role in reducing inequalities in the distribution of income in the economy.

52
Components of service sector : Service sector can be broadly divided into two
parts :

1. Economic services.
2. Social services.

1.Economic services : It includes the following items :

(i) Transport, Storage and Communication: There are various types of transport, such
as rail transport, road transport, water transport, air transport. Indian railway system is
first in Asia and fourth in the world after USA, Russia and Canada. Storage service is
provided by both government and private. Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC), the
Food Corporation of India (FCI) etc. are the government units which provide storage
facilities.

53
 (ii) Trade, Hotels and Tourisms: Trade service comprises both domestic and foreign
trades. Domestic trade means trade between the different states and cities within the
country. On the other hand, foreign trade means trade between different countries. It
includes both exports and imports. There are several public sector units like State Trading
Corporation (STC), Minerals and Metals Trading Corporation (MMTC), Special
Economic Zones (SEZ) etc giving sufficient support to increase the foreign trade in India.

(iii) Banking and Insurance Services: Development of banking service is the major
indicator of economic growth. In India, banking network is spread all over the country.
For the flourishment of other service sectors, banking sector plays a very vital role.

2.Social services : It includes the following such items,such as;

(i) Education: After Independence, education system has increased tremendously.

General education facilities have increases in good number. There are sharp increase in
the number of primary, middle, high and higher secondary schools. A decent number of
students have enrolled in the schools. Not only that, number of colleges, deemed
universities and universities have also risen to a large extent.All these have increased the
standard of education system in India.

(ii) Health: The health services includes number of hospitals,dispensaries,community

health and various services,primary health centers,number of doctors,nurses,beds in
hospitals along with the no of doctors per 1000 population.

(iii) Administration: In India administrative services has also increased at a rapid place.

A type of economic activity that is intangible,is not stored

and doesnot result in ownership.A service is consumed at one point sale.Services are one
of the two components of economics, the other being goods.

54
Service sector related to Insurance industry :

Insurance in India was started in the year of 1956, when Life Insurance
Corporation came into place. Post liberalisation, the insurance industry in India has
recorded significant growth. The Indian insurance industry is expected to grow to US$
280 billion by FY2020, owing to the solid economic growth and higher personal
disposable incomes in the country. Premium income of the life insurance segment had
increased 14.04 per cent in FY17 to Rs 4.18 trillion (US$ 64.92 billion).

The total insurance market expanded from US$ 23 billion in FY05 to US$ 84.72 billion
in FY17. There are 24 life insurance and 33 non-life insurance companies in the Indian
market who compete on price and services to attract customers. There are more than six
reinsurance companies. The industry has been spurred by product innovation, vipant
distribution channels, coupled with targeted publicity and promotional campaigns by the
insurers. Private sector companies hold 48.01 per cent market share in the general
insurance segment and 28.93 per cent market share in the life insurance segment.

We call our country as an Advantage India in the insurance sector because of these four
reasons :

Demand:

• Growing interest in insurance among people due to increase in the knowledge;

innovative products and distribution channels aiding growth
• Increasing demand for insurance offshoring
• Growing use of internet has started increasing the demand.

Attractive opportunities:

• Life insurance in low-income urban areas

• Health insurance, pension segment
• Strong growth potential for micro insurance, especially rural areas.

Increasing investments:

Insurance sector companies in India have raised around Rs.434.3 billion through public
issues in 2017

o Increase in FDI limit to 49% from 26% approved in 2016

55
Policy Support:

• Tax incentives on insurance products

• Passing of Insurance bills gives IRDA flexibility to frame regulation
• Repeated attempts to make the sector more lucrative for foreign participants

EVOLUTION OF THE INDIAN INSURANCE SECTOR:

1956-1972: All life insurance companies were nationalized to form LIC in 1956 to
increase penetration and protect policy holders from mismanagement.

The non-life insurance business was nationalized to form GIC in 1972.

1993-1999:

 Malhotra Committee recommended opening up the insurance sector to private

players.
 IRDA, LIC and GIC Acts were passed in 1999, making IRDA the statutory
regulatory body for insurance and ending the monopoly of LIC and GIC.

2000-2014:

 Post liberalization, the insurance industry recorded significant growth; the number
of private players increased to 44 in 2012 The industry has been spurred by product
innovation, vibrant distribution channels, coupled with targeted publicity and promotional
campaigns by the insurers.
 In December 2014, Government approved the ordinance increasing FDI limit in
insurance sector from 26% to 49%. This would likely to attract investment of US$7-8
billion.

2015: 2016

In 2015, Government introduced Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bhima Yojana

Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyothi Bheema Yojana.

Government introduced Atal Pension Yojana and health insurance in 2015.

56
2016-2017:

 As per Union Budget 2016-17, new health insurance scheme under the national
Health Protection Scheme has been introduced.
 In Union Budget 2017, Government increased the coverage from 30% to 40%
under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bhima Yojana.
 Insurance companies raised more than US$ 6 billion from public issues in 2017.

2018 -2019:
As per union budget 2019-2019, the growth rate of insurance was 14.47 percent.

IRDAI GOVERNS THE INDIAN INSURANCESECTOR:

IRDAI is responsible for regulating, promoting and ensuring orderly growth of the
insurance and reinsurance business in India.

57
 INDIA’S INSURANCE MARKET CONTINUES TO BE STRONG:

 The insurance industry is expected to reach USD280 billion by 2020. In 2016,

around 46 private players were operating in the industry, while Life Insurance
Corporation accounted for 72.61 per cent of the country’s insurance market .
 Individual single premiums received increased from USD0.16 billion in 2015 to
around USD1.02 billion in 2016.
 Indian Government announced its plans to divest USD1.63 billion worth of
stakes in PSU general insurance companies to execute the steep disinvestment target of
USD10.78 billion in FY 17.

PREMIUMS GROWING AT A BRISK PACE:

 The total insurance market expanded from USD23 billion in FY05 to USD68.88
billion in FY16
 Over FY05–FY16, total gross written premiums increased at a CAGR of 10.49
per cent
 Gross premium written in India for non-life insurance sector for FY16 is
USD14.33 billion and in FY16, the gross premium written in India for life insurance
sector stood at USD54.58 billion

In November 2016, the total growth in life insurance premium was around USD 2.38
billion as compared to USD 1.12 billion in November 2015, witnessing a growth of 113
per cent. Similarly during the same period, the individual single premium grew by USD
995 million as compared to USD 164.06 million in 2015, recorded a growth of more than
500 per cent

58
 PORTERS FIVE FORCES ANALYSIS:

Porter's Five Forces Framework is a tool for analyzing competition of a

business. It draws from industrial organization (IO) economics to derive five forces that
determine the competitive intensity and, therefore, the attractiveness (or lack of it) of an
industry in terms of its profitability.

Here is the Porter’s five force analysis of the Insurance industry:

Competitive Rivalry:

• Insurance Industry is becoming highly competitive with 52 players in the industry

• Companies are competing on price and also using low price and high returns
strategy for customers to lure

Threats of New Entrants:

• Other financial companies can enter the industry

• Overall threat is medium given that entry is subject to license and regulations
them.

Substitute Products:

• Similarity in services makes switchover a potential threat

• Investment oriented customers have switched to other avenues

Bargaining Power of Suppliers:

• Supplier being the distributor or agent has high bargaining power because they
have customer database and can influence customers in making choices.

Bargaining Power of Customers:

• Bargaining power of customers especially corporate is very high because they pay
huge amount of premium

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GROWTH DRIVERS OF INSURANCE INDUSTRY:

• The number of middle class households (earning between USD2,300 and

USD30,800 per annum) is estimated to increase more than fourfold to 234 million
by 2025 from 113 million in 2005 India’s robust economy is expected to sustain
the growth in insurance premiums written.
• Higher personal disposable incomes would result in higher household saving that
will be channeled into different financial savings instruments like insurance.
• Household savings reached US$ 388.20 billion in 2016 from US$ 89 billion in
2000.
• Financial savings have reached USD202.36 billion by 2015 from USD45 billion
in 2000
• In comparison with its position in October 2016, till February 2017, insurance
sector witnessed growth at about 23 per cent.
• Per capita income and rural income are increasing
• Rising per capita income leads to increased spending on medical and healthcare
services
• Lifestyle diseases are set to account for a greater part of the healthcare market

INSURANCE @DIGITAL:

The exploding popularity and reach of mobile phones, internet and social media has made
‘digital’ a core part of life for many consumers across the globe. This megatrend is only
growing bigger exponentially. It is estimated that by 2020, three in every four insurance
policies would be influenced by the digital channel either through pre-purchase stage,
purchase or renewal stage.

‘Digital’ is now a way of life. Let us look at some of the global facts:

• 6.7 billion mobile phone connections

• billion internet users
• 1.7 billion social media users

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This means that there are more mobile phone connections in the world than humans,
nearly 2 out of 5 humans are already online and 1 out of every 4 is using social media.

The rapidly accelerated technology adoption which is shaping the digital economy is due
to the convergence of four mega trends:

• The world is going mobile

• Micro-transactions are the new norms
• Man is a social animal
• Big data leverage

India is no different when it comes to digital and already has one of the largest digital
user populations in the world:

• 900 million mobiles (Globally #2)

• 200 million Internet users (Globally #3)
• 92 million Facebook Users (Globally #2)

DIGITAL FOOTPRINT, DIGITAL INFLUENCE AND DIGITAL SALES:

• While Digital Footprint represents how many customers of the product category
have internet access, Digital influence represents what fraction of the category
buyers use the Internet for any pre-purchase, purchase or service activity.

61
COMPANY PROFILE:

62
SHRIRAM LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY

Shriram Life Insurance Company, also known as (SLIC) was founded in the year 2005
and commenced operations in the year 2006. SLIC is well known for their efficient use of
capital and low operational costs.

Shriram Life Insurance Company is a joint venture between Shriram Group founded in
1974, headquartered in Chennai and Sanlam, a leading financial services group based in
Cape Town, South Africa. Together, Sanlam and Shriram’s group aims to provide the
best life insurance products to cater different segments of Indian market.

In 2016, Shriram Life Insurance Company received the Bizz Americas 2016 Awards.
The company’s objective aims in ‘reaching out to the common man with products and
services that would be helpful to him/her as they set out on the path to prosperity.

Highlights of Shriram Life Insurance:

• Shriram Life has more than 528 branches with over and above 1.45 crore
customers.
• Shriram Life clocked Rs.1020 crore gross premiums in 2015-2016.
• The company has a network of 609 offices and 75,000 agents across India.
• Shriram has an outstanding Underwriting Record and has awarded as
‘Underwriting Initiative of the Year.’
• Shriram Life Insurance generates more than 40% business through providing
insurance to rural area and weaker segment individuals - ‘AAM AADMI’ of
India.
• The Founder of Shriram Group, Mr R Thyagarajan, has been awarded with Padma
Bhushan award.

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Benefits of Shriram Life Insurance:

• Financial Protection: Plans which provide financial protection to your family.

• Flexibility: Flexible premium and payout options.

• Online plans: Specifically designed online plans that costs lower

• Variety: Offers a variety of online as well as offline plans

• Customer Service: Offers good, hassle-free pre-sales and post-sales services.

• Tax benefits: Save tax on all premiums and payouts under the section 80C and
10(10D) of Income Tax Act, 1961.

Documentation needed to apply for a Shriram Life Insurance Policy:

The most common type of documentation comprises of the following,

the information on the same is available on the official website of SLIC
shriramlife.com/download-forms.
Proposal Form: The form which is to be filled in by the insured in written or
electronic or any other format as approved by the authority, for furnishing all material
information as required by the insurer in respect of a risk, in order to enable the insurer to
take informed decision in the context of underwriting the risk, and in the event of
acceptance of the risk, to determine the rates, advantages, terms and conditions of the
cover to be granted.
Know Your Customer (KYC): Identity, address, income and age proof.

64
Life Insurance Plans by Shriram Life Insurance Company

Shriram Life Family Protection Plan: This plan caters to the needs of
people who want to protect their

Families in case of an untimely death. It offers flexibility in paying premiums - Monthly

(only by ECS) or annually. The insured has the option to select to whom the ‘Death Sum
Assured’ has to be paid in case of an untimely death.

Death Benefit Payout option - The policyholder can opt for either a lump sum option or
installment option. In case of a lump sum payout, the death sum assured is paid at once
and the policy terminates. If, on the other hand a policyholder opts for an installment
option, then the 50% of the sum assured is paid as a lump sum amount and the rest is paid
in 5 equal annual installments. There are no survival benefits. The minimum eligibility
age is 18 years while maximum is 60 years with a sum assured ranging between INR.
15,00,000 to 5 cores.

shriram Life Cash Back Term Plan: The Shriram Life Cash Back Term Plan features
lump sum payout in case of an unfortunate death of the insured in order to protect the
financial security of his/her family members. It offers flexibility in paying premiums -
yearly, half yearly, quarterly and monthly with an option to choose policy term as per
10/15/20/25 years.

Death Benefit Payout option - The sum assured on death is paid only if all the
premiums have been met. The death benefit will be higher of basic sum assured or at least
105% of all the premiums paid. The minimum eligibility age is 12 years while the
maximum is 50 years with a sum assured ranging between INR. 2,00,000 to INR.
20,00,000.

Add on benefits include Rider options:

Accident Benefit Rider: In the event of death of the life assured due to an accident or
accidental permanent disability, the rider sum assured is paid. In the case of a permanent
disability, the future premiums are waived.
65
Family Income Benefit: Under this rider, 1% of sum assured will be paid every month
for a guaranteed period of 10 years or till the end of the rider term whichever is higher, if
the life assured dies due to an accident or becomes totally and permanently disabled due
to an accident.

Critical Illness Cover: This rider covers 6 major critical illnesses - Cancer, Heart Attack,
Stroke, Kidney Failure, Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery and Major Organ Transplant.
On the first diagnosis of any of the six critical illnesses, the rider benefit will be paid as a
lump sum benefit.

Shriram Life Secure plus Plan: This plan is similar in function to the ones mentioned
above where you have flexibility in paying premiums - yearly, half yearly, quarterly and
monthly with an option to choose policy term as per 10/15/20 years. Rider options
comprise of Accidental Benefit, Family Income Benefit and Critical Illness Cover.

Death Benefit Payout option: The death benefit will be higher of basic sum assured or
maturity sum assured or at least 105% of all the premiums paid. The minimum eligibility
age is 18 years while the maximum is 50 years with a sum assured ranging between INR.
5,00,000 to INR. 20,00,000.

Awards Won by Shriram Life Insurance Company:

• The Bizz Americas 2016 Award - Shriram Life Insurance.

• Best Life Insurance Company - BFSI Award, ABP News.
• International Arch of Europe’ award - Frankfurt 2015.
• Indian Insurance Award for Non-Urban Coverage - Life Insurance - Finetelekt,
SP Media Pvt. Ltd.
• Managerial Excellence Award 2015 - For excellence in diverse areas - Madras
Management Association.

Claim Process of Shriram Life Insurance:

Claim Intimation

• Claim settlement ratio of Shriram Life Insurance Company for F.Y 2018-19 is
80.23%.

• Intimate Shriram Life on their Toll-Free number - 1800-3000-6116.

• You can also email at customercare@shriramlife.in.

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 • You can also directly contact at 040 23009400 (Monday to Friday - 9.30 am to
5.30 pm).

• Claim Assessment: On receiving all the necessary documents, Shriram Life will
assess claim documents and the information provided by the proposal in the form.

• Claim Approval process: On the approval of Claim Acceptance, the nominee will
receive a sum assured. For further process at any time of claim process, you can
also reach out to customercare@shriramlife.in.

Claim Documents: List of Mandatory Documents:

• Duly filled Claim Form

• Original Policy Document
• Original/Government officer Attested Death Certificate issued by the local
authority
• Claimant’s address proof
• Claimant’s ID Proof
• Claimant’s Bank Pass Book/Bank Statement/Cancelled Cheque
• In case of no nominee, a legal heir certificate.

In addition to the standard documents, there are other documents required under different
case:

• Hospital / Other treatment records

• Photo Identification & address proof of the claimant
• Post-mortem & chemical viscera report (if performed)
• Physician's Statement
• Police Report / F.I.R in case of unnatural death

Term Insurance: A term plan provides death risk cover for a specified period. In case
the life assured passes away during the policy period, the life insurance company pays the
death benefit to the nominee. It is a pure risk cover plan that offers high coverage at low
premiums. There’s an option to add riders to widen up the coverage.

Unit Linked Plans: A unit linked plan is a comprehensive combination of insurance and
investment. The premium paid towards ULIP is partly used as a risk cover (insurance)
and partly is invested in funds. One can invest in different funds offered by the insurance
company depending on his risk appetite.
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Endowment Plan: Endowment plan is another type of life insurance plan, which is a
combination of insurance and saving. A certain amount is kept for life cover – insurance,
while the rest is invested by the life insurance company.

Money Back Life Insurance: Money back plan is a unique type of life insurance policy,
wherein a percentage of the sum assured is paid back to the insured on periodic intervals
as survival benefit.

Whole Life Insurance: A whole life insurance policy covers the life assured for whole
life, or in some cases, up to the age of 100 years. Unlike, term plans, which are for a
specified term. The sum assured or the coverage is decided at the time of policy purchase
and is paid to the nominee at the time of death claim of the life assured along with
bonuses if any. However, if the life assured outlives the age of 100 years, the insurance
company pays the matured endowment coverage to the life insured.

Child Plan: Child plan helps to build corpus for child’s future growth. Child plans help
to build funds for child’s education and marriage. Most of the child plans provides annual
installments or one time payout after the age of 18 years.

Retirement Plan: Retirement plan helps to build corpus for your retirement. Helping you
to live independently financially and without worries. Most of the child plans provide
annual installments or one time payout after the age of 60 years.

CHANNELS OF INSURANCE INDUSTRY:

Direct channel: Direct marketing for the insurance sector is a marketing method used to
generate leads for insurance agents. Insurance brokers and companies use many direct
marketing methods to find new customers. Direct mail postcards and letters are two types
of traditional direct mail that are popular for insurance marketing.

Bank Assurance: Bank assurance or All Finanz, is a relationship between a bank and an
insurance company, aimed at offering insurance products or insurance benefits to the
bank's customers. In this partnership, bank staff and tellers become the point of sale and
point of contact for the customer. Bank staff are advised and supported by the insurance
company through wholesale product information, marketing campaigns and sales
training. The bank and the insurance company share the commission. Insurance policies
are processed and administered by the insurance company.

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 This partnership arrangement can be profitable for both companies. Banks
can earn additional revenue by selling the insurance products, while insurance companies
are able to expand their customer base without having to expand their sales forces or pay
commissions to insurance agents or brokers.

Agency Channel: Agency is the largest distribution channel of almost all life insurance
companies, comprising a large advisor force that targets various customer segments. The
strength of agency channels lies in an aggressive strategy of expanding and procuring
quality business. With focus on sales & people development, tied agency has emerged as
a robust, predictable and sustainable business model. All life insurance companies have
an agency-building distribution strategy under which they recruit, train, finance, and
supervise their agent/advisers. For decades, agency was the only distribution channel for
life insurance in India.

Digital marketing: Insurers are using the Internet to provide general information of
financial services products (e.g., insurance, investments) and planning involving the use
of these products, to provide specific information of the company and its product lines, to
provide administrative support to its policyholders and to serve as a prospecting and
communication tool for its agent-led channel. The following methods are used for digital
marketing:

SEO – Search Engine Optimization

SEM – Search Engine Marketing

SMM- Social Media Marketing

SMO- Social Media Optimization

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SWOT ANALYSIS OF SRIRAM LIFE INSURANCE:

Strengths:

• Insurance policies for all groups of society

• Policies with consideration for social Impact
• International expertise of Sanlam group
• Spread of 750 offices across India.

Weakness:

• Low key I.T infrastructure as compared to big brands

• Insurance companies have a poor image when it comes to payment of
dues

Opportunities:

• Growing rural market

• Earning Urban Youth looking for investments

• Cross selling through financial services such as banking

Threats:

• Stringent Economic measures by Government& RBI.

• Entry of new NBFCs in the sector.

STP ANALYSIS OF THE COMPANY:

Segment:

Personal and Institutional Insurance

Target Group:

Urban and Rural Investors

Positioning:

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Complete Insurance and financial solutions

COMPANY PRODUCTS:

SHRIRAM LIFE INSURANCE proving such a grateful saving plan at your price. The
life insurance may help you or could help to your children.

• Shriram Life Insurance offers three products namely:

• ASSURED INCOME PLUS

• ASSURED INCOME PLAN

• GROWTH PLUS

1. ASSURED INCOME PLUS (Endowment plans)

Age group : From minimum age group of 8 to maximum age group of 60.

Maturity Age : Maximum 70 years.

Sumassured: Minimum(1.5lakhs) Maximum:(5crore )

Premium paying term : 5 years

Annualpremium:minimum(20,000) Maximum :(65.10)lakhs

Benefits of Assured income plus :

1. Encourages a disciplined approach to savings because policyholders are

expected to set aside a predetermined amount as premium at a stipulated time-interval.

2. The plan offers Tax benefits under section 80C and 10 (10D) of the
Income Tax Act.

3. In case of emergency, policyholders can obtain a loan against the policy –

usually without having to secure the loan against a collateral.

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What are Endowment Plans :

Endowment plans are insurance plans where you receive life insurance cover during the
policy term and on maturity you receive the proceeds from the policy. Endowment Plans
can be categorised under three broad categories.

 Traditional – Non Participating Endowment Plan, also known as Guaranteed

Endowment Plans

 Traditional – Participating Endowment Plan, part of the benefits are guaranteed

and part of the benefits are accumulated through bonuses

 Unit Linked Plans Endowment Plan, benefits are market linked and are based on
the performance of investment funds

Risks associated with Endowment Plans :

Traditional Endowment Plans (Non Linked) are risk free savings and usually,
guarantepayback. The Participating options are designed to grow steadily as bonuses are
added. Usually bonuses, once added, can’t be taken away. But if you cash in your policy
before the end of the term, entire accrued bonuses may not be available at the time of
surrender.

ULIP’s, also a type of endowment plan, on the other hand, are high risk investments.
Growth depends on the performance of the funds you choose. By choosing diverse funds,
you can weather the ups and downs of the market better.

What is a Guaranteed Endowment Plan?

A Guaranteed Endowment plan is a combination of life insurance and maturity benefits

where all the benefits are guaranteed upfront. These savings plans are most suitable for
those individuals who do not want to risk their investments through market-linked
instruments.

In case of the policyholder’s death, the payout, along with guaranteed additions, if any,
goes to the beneficiary.

How do Endowment Plans work?

A part of the premium paid by you is invested either on a with-profits basis or a unit-
linked basis. Your premium amount depends on your age, sex, and how long the
endowment is for.

72
The size of the lump sum you get at the end of your endowment often depends on the
performance of these investments.

This means your savings are pooled together and invested by the insurance company in
various investment options, typically;

1. Shares

2. Mutual funds

3. Bonds

4. Fixed-interest investments

Growth plus : ULIP ( Insurance cum investment plans ):

Why SLIC’s ULIP

 Multiple fund options and flexibility to switch between funds

 Flexibility to select two different death benefit options

 Lowest investable premium starting at rs 4,000 /- per month.

Attractive loyalty additions on the maturity ,Premium payment options –single , regular
and limited .

EntryAge : Minimum : 30 DAYS

Maximum: 60 YEARS

Maturity Age : Maximum 70 YEARS

Minimum SumAssured : 7 Times of the Annualised Premium

Policy Term: 10 YEARS OR 15-20 YEARS

Premium Paying Term : Limited 6 YEARS SINGLE : Single

Minimum Annual Premium : 60000RS Maximum– No limit

What are Unit Linked Insurance Plans?

A Unit-Linked Insurance Plan is essentially a combination of insurance and investment.

A portion of the premium paid by the policyholder is utilized to provide insurance
coverage to the policyholder and the remaining portion is invested in equity and debt
73
 instruments. The aggregate premiums collected by the insurance company is pooled and
invested in varying proportions of debt and equity securities in a similar manner to
mutual funds based on policy holder’s investment needs and risk appetite.

How do they work?

1. A certain amount of premium paid is invested to meet your insurance needs and some
amount towards building wealth.

2. In the initial policy years, a large part of the premium is spent on meeting policy
expenses. Post deduction of these expenses, some amount of the premium is invested in
life insurance to provide you life cover in case of an unfortunate event and the remaining
is invested in different funds for wealth creation.

These funds could be equity, debt or a combination of both depending upon your
investment needs and risk appetite.

How to best use ULIP’s ?

1.It is a long term investment plan; we stand to gain more in case of a longer term.

2.Understand our life insurance and investment needs well and invest accordingly.

3.Increase our investment component in the base policy for an additional nominal amount
over our regular premium.

4.Switch your investments from one fund to another in case of change in your risk profile
depending on our age, investment objective and time duration.

Things to consider before we buy a ULIP

1. Factors
Risk appetite (ability to tolerate a risk), Financial Commitments and
Funding Needs are three very crucial factors that influence the choice of a ULIP.

2 .Premium payment options

Single, Limited, Regular are the options available and the option ou rchoose should
be in line with our financial capabilities.

3.Switch flexibility

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 Over time as our risk appetite and financial conditions change ULIP’s
offer you the flexibility to switch between options.

4.Limitations, Exclusions & Charges.

Other things to consider are limitations and exclusions on the

sum assured in case of death or permanent disability and charges associated because they
take away from the value that you get as an investor.

Assured Income plan :

Key features :

 Pay premium only once.

 Life Insurance for 10 years.
 Guaranteed returns after 10 years.
 Maturity benefit options.
 Tax benefits as per tax laws.
 Higher maturity benefits for higher premium policies.

ELIGIBILITY :

Entry Age : Minimum Maximum

Option 1 : 8yrs 8yrs

Option 2: 40 yrs 60yrs

Plan option :

Option 1 : 10* single premium

Option 2 : 1.25 * single premium

Policy term : 10 yrs

Minimum basic sum assured :

Option 1: 5,00,000

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 Option 2 : 62,500

Minimum premium : 50,000 Maximum : No limit

Maturity benefit payout options :

 Lump sum
 10 Annual payouts
 120Annual payouts

Maturity Benefit.

The policy holder has the option to choose from the following 3 maturity benefit options;

 Annual Payout – in this case the annual instalments equal to 10% of (Single
Premium multiplied by the Maturity Benefit Factor) will be paid for next 10 years
starting from the date of maturity.
 Monthly Payout – in this case the monthly instalments equal to 0.862% of (Single
Premium Multiplied by the Plan Maturity Benefit Factor) will be paid for next 120
months starting from the date of maturity.
 Lump Sum Payout – the Guaranteed Maturity Sum Assured equal to discounted
value of instalments using interest rate of 7.75% p.a. which is same as 73.12% of (Single
Premium Multiplied by the Maturity Benefit Factor) will be paid on the date of maturity.

Death Benefit

For death during Policy Term, Death Sum Assured is paid immediately to the nominee(s)
or beneficiaries and the plan terminates. The death benefit shall be paid in lump sum
only.

“Death Sum Assured” is defined as highest of

 Absolute amount assured to be paid on death

 1.25 times the Single Premium for ages less than 45 years and 1.10 times
the Single Premium for ages 45 years and above

 Guaranteed Maturity Sum Assured

76
 Note:

 If the life assured dies after commencement of the instalments, the

outstanding annual/monthly instalments (i.e. from the date of death to the last instalment
to be paid) will continue to be paid to the nominee(s) or beneficiary.

Board of directors :

Board of Directors The Company’s Board comprises of adequate mix of

Independent and non-Independent Directors as well as non-executive and executive
Directors. The Directors on the Board of the Company come from diverse experiences
and backgrounds and have a wide range of experience and skills. The current Board size
and composition is considered optimal, considering our business and evolution context.
None of the Directors of the Company are related to each other. The Directors attend and
actively participate in the Board Meetings, and meetings of the Committees in which they
are members. The Board comprises of the following members:

Sl.no Name of thedirector Designation

1 Mr T KrishnaMurthy Chairman
Independent Director

2 Mr T K Banerjee Vice Chairman Non-

Executive Director

3 Mr Casparus Jacobus Hendrik Managing Director & CEO

Kromhout

4 Mrs Akhila Srinivasan Managing Director

5 Mr Manoj Kumar Jain Managing Director

6 Mrs krishnann Independent Director

7 MrS Lakshminarayanan Independent Director

8 Mr Stephanus Philipus Mostert Non-Executive Director

77
 9 Mr Gaurav Trehan Non-Executive Director

10 Mr Umesh Govind Revankar Non-Executive Director

BUSINESS PERFORMANCE :

The domestic life insurance industry registered 11% growth for new business
premium in financial year 2017-18, largely driven by growth in Individual premium
policy. While private insurers saw their growth at 18%, state - run Life Insurance
Corporation of India (LIC) registered growth at 8% in last financial year. On Individual
New Business, our Company saw a growth of around 8% as compared to 26% growth for
private industry and 13% growth for LIC. On Individual APE, our Company grew from `
371 Crores to ` 425 Crores, a growth of 14%, as compared to 24% growth for Private
Industry & 13% growth for LIC. On group business, our Company grew 14% YOY as
compared to 4% growth for the private industry and 5% growth for LIC. The total
premium income of the company was `1497 Crores (Previous Year ` 1208 Crores).

RURAL AND SOCIAL SECTOR OBLIGATIONS: As per the regulatory requirements,

the Company has met its Rural and Social Sector obligations for financial year 2017- 18.
As part of its overall business, the Company has achieved prescribed regulatory targets of
social and rural business, as follows:

• Rural business – Achieved – 53% versus prescribed requirement of 20% of overall

business

• Social business – Insured – 28,60,634 social lives versus prescribed 11,14,920 (5%)
social lives SOLVENCY

The IRDAI requires life insurers to maintain a minimum Solvency Ratio of 150%. The
Solvency Ratio is calculated as specified in the IRDA (Assets, Liabilities, and Solvency
Margin of Insurers) Regulations, 2016. As compared to the minimum requirement of
150%, the Company’s Solvency Ratio, as at March 31, 2018, was 203%.

DIVIDEND AND RESERVES :The Board of Directors of the Company through a

circular resolution dated 6th February, 2018 have declared an interim dividend ` 0.93 per
equity share of the face value of ` 10/- each on the paid up equity capital of the company

78
and no further dividend has been recommended for the Financial year ended 31st March,
2018 and interim dividend declared is to be confirmed at the ensuing 13th Annual
General Meeting (“AGM”). The Company has not carried forward any amount to its
Reserves for the FY 2017-18.

SHARE CAPITAL :The Company’s paid up equity share capital during the year stands
at ` 179,37,50,000. The details pertaining to Employee Stock Option Scheme (ESOP) of
your company are given in the notes to accounts in the financial statements.

INSURANCE AGENTS: Consequent upon the passing of the Insurance Laws

Amendments Act and new Regulations and Guidelines on the Insurance Agents, there
have been certain changes in the licensing/appointment of insurance agents during 2015-
16 and 2016-17. Earlier system of issuance of certificate of license by the insurer to act as
an insurance agent is dispensed with in the new regulations. In place of this, a letter of
appointment is required to be issued by the insurer to any person to act as an insurance
agent. Your Company has, as on date, a branch network of 609 branches and has advisor
force of 4498.

STATUS OF PRODUCTS: Since inception, your Company has obtained the approval
of Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) for 106
products / riders, out of which 45 are available for procuring new business. During the
year 2017-18, the company has launched 7 products compliant to the IRDA (Linked and
Non linked) Products Regulations 2013 regulations. 3 products were withdrawn during
the year. There were no new riders launched during FY 2017-18.

MANAGEMENT REPORT: Pursuant to the provisions of Regulation 3 of the

Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Preparation of Financial Statements
and Auditor’s Report of Insurance Companies) Regulations 2000, the Management
Report is placed separately and forms part of this Annual Report.

PUBLIC DEPOSITS: Your Company has not accepted any deposits within the meaning
of Section 73 of the Companies Act, 2013 and the Companies (Acceptance of Deposits)
Rules, 2014. PARTICULARS OF LOANS, GUARANTEES The company has not given
any loans or guarantees covered under the provisions of Section 186 of the Companies
Act,2013.

PARTICULARS OF LOANS, GUARANTEES: The company has not given any loans
or guarantees covered under the provisions of Section 186 of the Companies Act, 2013.
79
 INVESTMENTS: Investments of insurance companies are regulated under
the IRDAI (Investment) Regulations, 2016 as amended from time to time. Your
Company has complied with the requirements under the said Regulations. The total
policyholders’ funds under management as on 31st March, 2018 are ` 3004 Crores.

they offered themselves for INTERNAL CONTROL SYSTEMS AND

THEIR ADEQUACY: The Company has an Internal Control System, commensurate with
the size, scale and complexity of its operations. The Internal Audit Department monitors
and evaluates the efficacy and adequacy of internal control system in the Company, its
compliance with operating systems, accounting procedures and policies at all locations of
the Company. Based on the report of internal audit function, process owners undertake
corrective action in their respective areas and thereby strengthen the controls. Significant
audit observations and recommendations along with corrective actions thereon are
presented to the Audit Committee of the Board. To maintain its objectivity and
independence, the Internal Audit function reports to the Chairman of the Audit
Committee of the Board.

DIRECTORS: In accordance with the provisions of the Companies Act, 2013, Mr

Stephanus Philipus Mostert, Mr. Prasheem Seebran and Mr. Umesh Govind Revankar
Directors, retire by rotation at the ensuing Annual General Meeting (AGM) and being
eligiblere-appointment. Mr. Manoj Kumar Jain has been re-appointed as Managing
Director for a further period from 5th June, 2017 to 30th November, 2020 in the
Extraordinary General Meeting of the shareholders’ held on 12th April, 2017. All
Independent Directors have given declarations that they meet the criteria of independence
as laid down under Section 149(6) of the Companies Act, 2013.

RECONSTITUTION OFCOMMITTEES: In view of the provisions of the Companies

Act, 2013 as well as consequent to the change in the composition of the Board of
Directors of the Company, certain committees have been re-constituted / re-organised.
Details of the above are mentioned in the Corporate Governance Report.

APPOINTMENTS/RESIGNATIONS OF THE KEY MANAGERIAL

PERSONNEL: There were no changes in the Key Managerial Personnel during the FY
2017-18.
80
POLICY ON BOARD APPOINTMENT AND PERFORMANCE EVALUATION:
The Company has put in place a Policy on Board Appointment and Performance which
outlines the criteria for determining qualifications, positive attributes and independence
of a Director and other matters as specified under Section 178(3) of the Companies Act,
2013. It also provides guidance on the procedure for performance evaluation of the
Board, Key Managerial personnel and Senior Management. Appointment of directors are
considered and recommended by the Nomination & Remuneration Committee in the first
instance, and thereafter approved by the Board and Shareholders, as necessary or
required. In line with the Companies Act, 2013, Independent Directors are not entitled to
Stock Options. The Remuneration of Non-Executive Directors comprises sitting fees for
attending the meetings of Board/ Committees of the Board. The payments of
remuneration to the Managing Directors/Whole Time Directors are subject to approval by
Nomination & Remuneration Committee, Board, Shareholders and IRDAI, to the extent
applicable/necessary. The details of the Board Appointment and Performance Evaluation
Policy are stated in the Corporate Governance Report.

BOARD EVALUATION: In terms of the provisions of the Companies Act, 2013 read
with rules made thereunder, the Board of Directors on the recommendation of the
Nomination and Remuneration Committee, carried out an annual evaluation of its
performance, and that of its Committees and Individual Directors for the financial year
ending 31st March, 2017 on 10th May, 2017. There has been no material adverse
observation or conclusion, consequent to such evaluation and review. Further, the
Independent Directors met separately, without the attendance of non-Independent
Directors and Members of the Management, and inter alia reviewed the performance of
non-independent directors, and Board as a whole; and performance of the Chairman.
They further assessed the quality, quantity and timeliness of flow of information between
the Company Management and the Board. The Nomination & Remuneration Committee
also undertook an evaluation of Individual Director’s performance and expressed its
satisfaction on performance of each Director. For the FY 2017-18, the Board shall
conduct the review of each Director’s performance, Board as a whole and performance of
Committees of the Board on 2nd May, 2018.

81
BOARD/COMMITTEE MEETINGS: A calendar of Meetings is prepared and
circulated in advance to the Directors. During the year, six Board Meetings and twenty
four Committee Meetings were convened and held. The details of the said meetings are
given in the Corporate Governance Report. The intervening gap between the Meetings
was within the period prescribed under the Companies Act, 2013.

MATERIAL CHANGES AND COMMITMENT AFFECTING FINANCIAL

POSITION OF THE COMPANY: No material changes and commitments affecting the
financial position of the Company occurred between the end of the financial year to
which the financial statements relate and the date of this report.

SIGNIFICANT AND MATERIAL ORDERS PASSED BY REGULATORS OR

COURTS OR TRIBUNALS IMPACTING THE GOING CONCERN STATUS
AND OPERATIONS OF THE COMPANY: During the financial year 2017-18, no
significant or material orders were passed by the Regulators or Courts or Tribunals which
impact the going concern status and Company’s operation in future.

DIRECTORS’RESPONSIBILITY STATEMENT: In terms of Section 134 (5) of the

Companies Act, 2013, the Directors would like to state that: i. In the preparation of the
annual accounts, the applicable accounting standards have been followed along with
proper explanation relating to material departures. ii. The Directors have selected such
accounting policies and applied them consistently and made judgments and estimates that
are reasonable and prudent so as to give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the
company at the end of the financial year and of the profit and loss account of the
company for that period. iii. The Directors have taken proper and sufficient care for the
maintenance of adequate accounting records in accordance with the provisions of this Act
for safeguarding the assets of the company and for preventing and detecting fraud and
other irregularities. iv. The Directors have prepared the annual accounts on a going
concern basis. v. The Directors have devised proper systems to ensure compliance with
the provisions of all applicable laws and that such systems were adequate and operating
effectively.

82
RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS: All related party transactions that were entered
into during the year under review were on arm’s length basis and were in the ordinary
course of the business, thus not requiring Board/ Shareholders’ approval. A note on the
related party transactions for each quarter is placed at the meeting of the Audit
Committee, along with the details of such transactions. As per Accounting Standard (AS)
18 on ‘Related Party Disclosures’, the details of related party transactions entered into by
the Company are also included in the Notes to Accounts. The particulars of Contracts or
arrangements made with related parties are furnished in Annexure-1 and are attached to
this report.

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY INITIATIVES: Section 135 of the

Companies Act, 2013 on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) applies to the Company.
Accordingly, the Company has constituted a CSR Committee consisting of three
Directors including an Independent Director. The Composition of the CSR Committee is
given in the Corporate Governance Report. The CSR policy of the Company, as
recommended by the CSR Committee, was approved by the Board and it has been
uploaded on the website of the Company at www.shriramlife.com. Details of the policy
are mentioned in the Corporate Governance Report and Annexure-5 of the Directors’
Report.

83
 PROFIT AND LOSS ACCOUNT

PROFIT AND LOSS ACCOUNT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31st MARCH,
2018 SHAREHOLDERS’ ACCOUNT (Non-Technical Account)

84
 BALANCE SHEET FORM

BALANCE SHEET AS AT 31st MARCH, 2018

85
 CHAPTER -4

DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

86
1)Age :

Age No. of Respondents Percentage

1-18 9 9%

19-30 16 16%

31-40 32 32%

Above 40 43 43%

Total 100 100%

50
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
1-18 group 19-30 31-40 above 40

Interpretation: Out of 100 respondents

 43% of respondents are interested at an age of above 40 years.

32 % of respondents are interested at an age of 31-40years, and

87
 16% of respondents are interested at an age of 19-30years. 9% of respondents are interested
at an age of 1-18 years

2) Gender

No. of Respondents
Gender Percentage

Male 65 65%
Female 35 35%
Total 100 100%

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0
males females

Interpretation:

Out of total 100 respondents

• 65% of respondents are men

• 35 % of respondents are women.

88
3) Annual income

Annual income No. of Respondents Percentage

18 18%
Less than Rs. 3,00,000

43 43%
Between

Rs. 3,00,000-5,00,000

Between 27 27%
Rs. 5,00,000-8,00,000

12 12%
Above 8,00,000

Total 100 100%

50
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
<3,00,000 3,00,000-5,00,000 5,00,000-8,00,000 <8,00,000

Interpretation :

• The majority of dominant income group having insurance policies belong to

income group of 3-5lakhs are 43% which is middle class group.
• Between 5-8lakhs are 27%of income groups are related to above middle class.

89
 • Above 8lakhs are12% of interested people related to higher class people and
18% of interested people related to lower income group.

4) Are you aware of life insurance products?

Awareness No. of Respondents Percentage

Yes 78 78%
No 22 22%
Total 100 100%

90

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0
Yes No

Interpretation:

Out of 100 respondents

• 78% of people are known life insurance products.

• 22% of people doesn’t know life insurance products.

90
5) If ‘yes’, from which source did you come to know about life
insurance?

Source No. of Respondents Percentage

Print media 12 12%

Audio visuals 31 31%

Social media 18 18%

Peer group 29 29%

Total 100 100%

35

30

25

20

15

10

0
Print media Audio visuals Social media Peer group

Interpretation:

 31%of respondents known through Audio visuals

 29% of respondents known through peer group
 18% of people known through peer group
91
  12% of people known through social media.

6) Among the listed companies, which company life insurance products

you have invested on?

products No. of Respondents Percentage

Shriram life insurance 43 43%
Life insurance company 33 33%
SBI 16 16%
Kotak Mahindra life 8 8%
insurance
Total 100 100%

50
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
I
ce ny SB ce
r an pa r an
u om su
ns ec in
ei c e
lif an lif
m ur ra
r ir a in
s ind
Sh iL fe ah
k M
ta
Ko

Interpretation:

• Out of 100 respondents :

• 43% of respondents are invested in shriram life insurance products .
• 33% of respondents are invested in life insurance company .
• 16% of respondents are invested in SBI.
• 8% of respondents are invested in kotrak Mahindra life insurance.

92
7) According to you what is the right age to buy life insurance?

Right age No. of Respondents Percentage

1-18 8 8%

19-25 20 20%

26-35 37 37%

More than 35 35 35%

Total 100 100%

40

35

30

25

20

15

10

0
1-18 group 19-25 26-35 >35

Interpretation:

Out of 100 respondents

• 37% of respondents are said 26-35 years is the right age to buy insurance.
• 35% of respondents are said above 35 years is the right age to buy insurance.
93
 • 20% of respondents are said 19-25 years is the right age to buy insurance.
• 8% of respondents are said 1-18 years is the right age to buy insurance.

8) How many insurance product you have so far invested in?

No of insurance products No. of Respondents Percentage

1 46 46%

2 28 28%

3 17 17%

Above 3 9 9%

Total 100 100%

50
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
1 2 3 Above 3

Interpration :

Out of 100 respondents:

94
 • 46% of respondents have only one insurance product.
• 28% of respondents have two insurance products.
• 17% of respondents have three insurance products.
• 9% of respondents have above three insurance products.

9) Reasons why you have insured self?

Reasons No. of Respondents Percentage

37 37%
For saving

16 16%
For covering risk to life

29 29%
For tax benefits

18 18%
To secure family

0 0%
If any ….

Total 100 100%

40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
g e ts ily .
vin lif efi m y…
a o n a n
rs kt be ef If
a
Fo ris ax cu
r
rin
g
o rt se
v e F To
r co
Fo

Interpretation:

Out of 100 respondents:

95
 • 37% of respondents are invested in insurance for saving purpose.
• 29% of respondents are invested in insurance for tax benefits.
• 18% of respondents are invested in insurance for to secure family.
• 16% of respondents are invested in insurance for covering risk to life.

10) How did you make your purchase decision for life insurance
product?

Decision No. of Respondents Percentage

Consult other people to help 32 32%

choose the best alternative
available from a product class.

Try to buy the same brand that 27 27%

my friends/colleagues have
bought.
Consult an agent/advisor 21 21%
before making final decision to
buy
Based upon my decision on the 16 16%
brand value of the company
and the product
Achieve a sense of belonging 4 4%
by purchasing the same brands
from the same company that
other purchase
Total 100 100%

96
 35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0

Intepretation:

• 32% of respondents are to buy insurance through, Consult other people to help
choose the best alternative available from a product class.
• 27% of respondents are to buy insurance through ,Try to buy the same brand that
my friends/colleagues have bought.
• 21% of respondents are to buy insurance through ,Consult an agent/advisor before
making final decision to buy.
• 16% of respondents are to buy insurance through, Based upon my decision on the
brand value of the company and the product.
• 4% of respondents are to buy insurance through, Achieve a sense of belonging by
purchasing the same brands from the same company that other purchase.

97
11) Which of the following policy was purchased by you from Shriram
life insurance?

Types of policies No. of Respondents Percentage

Single premium policy 14 14%
Assured income plus 44 44%
Growth plus 9 9%
Assured income plan 33 33%
Total 100 100%

50
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Single premium Assured income Growth plus Assured income
policy plus plan

Interpretation:

• 44% of respondents are shown more interested to buy Assured income plus.
• 33% of respondents are interested to buy Assured income plan.
• 14% of respondents are interested to buy single premium policy.
• 9% of respondents are interested to buy growth plus.

98
12. What is the term of your policy?

Policy term No. of Respondents Percentage

upto 5y 47 47%
upto 10 y 44 44%
above 15y 9 9%
Total 100 100%

50
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
up to 5y up to 10y Above 15y

Interpration:

• 47% of respondents are paid their policy term is upto 5 years.

• 44% of respondents are paid their policy term is upto 10 years.
• 9% of respondents are paid their policy term is above 15 years.

99
13) What is the duration of your premium payment?

Duration of premium No. of Respondents Percentage

payment
Monthly 25 25%
Quarterly 46 46%
Half –Yearly 18 18%
Yearly 11 11%
Total 100 100%

50
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Monthly Quarterly Half-Yearly Yearly

Interpretation :

Out of 100 respondents :

• 46% of respondents are paid on the basis of quarterly.

• 25% of respondents are paid on the basis of monthly.
• 18% of respondents are paid on the basis of half-yearly.
• 11% of respondents are paid on the basis of yearly.

100
14) Which feature of Shriram life insurance attracted you the most?

Feature No. of Respondents Percentage

Company image 21 21%
Large risk cover 28 28%
Guarantee returns 39 39%
Easy access to agent 9 9%
Any other reasons……. 3 3%
Total 100 100%

45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
e er ns t .
ag ov ur en ……
im c t ag s
ny k re o on
a ris ee st as
m
p
rg
e nt ces r e
Co La ar
a c er
ya th
Gu Ea
s
y o
An

Interpretation :

Out of 100 respondents :

• 39% of respondents were attracted to buy insurance was guarantee returns.

• 28% of respondents were attracted to buy insurance was large risk cover.
• 21% of respondents were attracted to buy insurance was company image.
• 9% of respondents were attracted to buy insurance was easy acess to agent.
• 3% of respondents were attracted to buy insurance due to some other reasons .

101
15) Are you satisfied with services provide Shriram life insurance?

Satisfaction of consumer No. of Respondents Percentage

Highly satisfied 11 11%
Satisfied 48 48%
Neutral 27 27%
Dissatisfied 11 11%
Highly dissatisfied 3 3%
Total 100 100%

60

50

40

30

20

10

0
Highly satisfied Satisfied Neutral Dissatisfied Highly dissatisfied

Interpretation:

• 48% of respondents are satisfied the services provided by the Shriram life
insurance company.
• 11% of respondents are highly satisfied the services provided by the Shriram life
insurance company.
• 27% of respondents are neutral the services provided by the Shriram life
insurance company.
• 11% of respondents are dissatified the services provided by the Shriram life
insurance company.
• 3% of respodents are highly dissatified the services provided by the Shriram life
insurance company.

102
16) Would you refer Shriram life insurance to others?

Opinion No. of Respondents Percentage

Yes 55 55%
No 24 24%
Neutral 21 21%
Total 100 100%

60

50

40

30

20

10

0
Yes No Neutral

Interpretation :

Out of 100 respondents :

55% of respondents are interested to refer Shriram life insurance company.

24% of respondents are not interested to refer Shriram life insurance company.

3% of respondents are interested to refer other companies.

103
 CHAPTER -5

FINDINGS, SUGGESTIONS&CONCLUSIONS

104
5.1 Findings :

• The majority of respondents belonged to the age group of above 40 years which
formed 43% followed by age group of 31-40 years which formed 32%.
• The male consumers capture the Market share with 65% ,followed by the female
consumers with 35%.
• The dominant income group having shriram life insurance group belong to the
group of 3-5lakhs followed by 5-8 lakhs.
• Shriram life insurance has a major market share 43%.
• The reasons to select a Shriram life insurance company is for saving,for covering
risk to life,for tax benefits,to secure family.
• Majority of consumers are satisfied with the service and quality of products of
their Shriram life insurance companies.
• Majority of consumers are attract to buy insurance is large risk coverage.

105
5.2 SUGGESTIONS:

With regard to insurance companies , consumers respond at

different rates, depending on the consumer charcterstics. Hence Insurance companies
should try to bring their new product to the attention of potential early adopters.

a) Due to the intense competition in the Shriram life insurance market,

theShriram life companies have to adopt better strategies to attract more
customers.
b) Keeping the cost, quality and return on investement in tact is necessary in
order to tackle the competition.
c) Shriram life insurance products are taken mainly by middle and higher
income group. Hence they should be regarded as main targeted income
groups,Shriram life insurance products which are suitable for lower
income group should also be released so that the market share increases.
d) Shriram life insurance companies should ask for their consumer feedback
to know whether the consumers are really satisfied or dissatisfied with the
service and product of the companies. If they are dissatisfied, then the
reasons for dissatisfaction should be found out and should be corrected in
future.

106
5.3 Conclusions :

An insurance policy is an investement oriented plan.As compared to other investement

plans, the investement portfolio of insurance.Policy functions like a mutual fund and
other investement.It is invested in a portfolio of debt and equity instruments,in
conformity with the announced investement policy.Hence it grows or erodes in line with
the performance of that portfolio. to secure their lives. People are aware of all the benefits
and returns of insurance policies

From this study it reveals that the consumer’s attitude towards Insurance policy and
Insurance Company changed a lot.A 5 years before the consumers and the general public
were not interested to take an Insurance policy but now says there are many options and
choices in front of the customers. They are interested to take high return policiies in
order. As a result of this new international and domestic companies are coming to the
Indian Market.

Since there are many players in the Indian Insurance Market the competition level is very
high. So the companies are introducing new schemes. From this it is found that the
SHLIC is the major market share holder in the insurance field. Even if there are many
players in this field still it is an untapped market .Only a few portion of Indian population
is insured.

107
 Annexure

1. Name :

2. Age :

3. Gender :

4. Marital status :

5. Occupation :

6. Address :

7. Annual Income:

 Less than Rs. 300000/-

 Between Rs. 300000/- to 500000/-

 Between Rs. 500000/- to 800000/-

 Above 800000/-

8. Are you aware of life insurance products ?

a) Yes

b) No

9. If ‘yes’, from which source did you come to know about life insurance?

a) Print media

b) Audio visuals

c) Social media

d) Peer group

108
10. Among the lisited companies ,Which company life insurance products you have

invested on?

a) SHRIRAM LIFE INSURANCE

b) LIC

c) KOTAK MAHINDRA LIFE INSURANCE

d) SBI

11. According to you what is the right age to buy Life insurance ?

a) 1-18

b) 19-25

c) 26-35

d) more than 35

12. How many insurance product you have so far invested in?

a) 1

b) 2

c) 3

d) Above 3

13. Reason why you have insured your self ?

a) For saving

b) For covering risk to life

c) For tax benefits

d) Tosecurity to family

e) If any …..

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14. How did you make your purchase decision for Life insurance product?

a) Consult other people to help choose the best alternative available from a

product class.

b) Try to buy the same brand that my friends/colleagues have bought.

c) Consult an agent/advisor before making final decision to buy.

d) Base my decision on the brand value of the company and the product.

e) Achieve a sense of belonging by purchasing the same brands from the same

company that other purchase.

15. Which of the following policy was purchased by you from you from Shriram

Life insurance?

a) Single premium policy

b) Assured income plus

c) Growth plus

d) Assured income plan

16. What is the term of your policy?

a) upto 5y

b) upto 10 y

c) above 15y

17. What is the duration of your premium payment ?

a. Monthly

b. Quarterly

c. Half –Yearly

d. Yearly

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18. Which feature of SHRIRAM LIFE INSURANCE attracted you the most?

a. Company image

b. Large risk cover

c. Guarantee returns

d. Easy access to agent

e. Any other reasons:………

19. Are you satisfied with services provided by Shriram Life Insurance?

a) Highly satisfied

b) Satisfied

c) Neutral

d) Dissatisfied

e) Highly dissatified

20. Would you refer Shriram Life Insurance to others ?

a) yes

b) No

c) Neutral

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REFERENCES:

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

• 1.Dr. singh,Avtar,principles of Insurance Lawa,SChand&Sons,Delhi.

• Leon G.Schiffman,Lestie Lazaar Kanwak,Consumer Behaviour,Himalay
Publishers,Delhi.
• Kotlerphilip, Marketingmanagement,Pearson Education Inc.11th Edition.
• Santon William J, Etzel Michael J,Walker Bruce J, Fundamentals of marketing,
Mc Graw –Hill international, Singapore.
• Ravi Shankar, Services Marketing, Prentice Hall.

NEWSPAPERS :

• Economic Times
• Business Line.

Books: shriram life insurance previous data

Philipkotler, Kevin lane Keller, 15th edition, Pearson

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