Tata AIA introduces Industry-First Premium payment through WhatsApp and UPI

• Partners with WhatsApp, PayU to enhance consumer convenience through Unified Payment Interfaces (UPIs)

MUMBAI, India, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- To reinforce its value of 'Consumer Obsession', Tata AIA Life Insurance (Tata AIA) has introduced digital payments via WhatsApp and Unified Payment Interfaces. This industry-first feature provides an instant premium payment facility through WhatsApp and UPI-enabled payment options.

The newly added payment option is first-of-its-kind in the insurance industry. The agile, seamless process allows consumers to pay premiums digitally and receive a quick premium payment confirmation and acknowledgement. In addition to being easy to use for both tech and non-tech-savvy consumers, it also offers a hassle-free premium payment experience.

WhatsApp and UPI have become household messaging and payment facilities, respectively, in India. The country has close to 500 million WhatsApp users today and more than 300 million UPI users. This clearly indicates the penetration of these new-age platforms. By introducing premium payment through these platforms, Tata AIA is ensuring that it provides its consumers with the ease and convenience of doing a transaction through their preferred modes.

Commenting on this occasion, Sanjay Arora, Executive Vice President & Head of Operations of Tata AIA, said, "At Tata AIA, we are committed to providing our policyholders with convenient, hassle-free premium payment options using modes that are preferred by them. Our bottom-up approach, armed with technology, allows us to understand the needs of our consumers and continually improve our services. Thanks to an in-house intelligent platform built in collaboration with WhatsApp and PayU, we have taken a significant step forward in improving consumer experience and enhancing the ease of transactions for them."

Tata AIA has adopted an Analytics-driven, Decile-based approach to improve its renewal premium collections. The company has enabled renewal premium collections via multiple Digital modes and enhanced its language capability to 5 Languages – English, Hindi, Tamil, Gujarati and Bengali. Communication drive via 'WhatsApp' and SMS services have been automated using Adobe-based campaign management system, enabling the Company to study behaviour and modify communication channels suitably.

Tata AIA also delivered very impressively on the two most important operational metrics despite Claim Settlement Ratio and Persistency. The Individual Death Claims Settlement ratio for FY23 improved from 98.53% in FY22 to 99.01% in FY23. Its Persistency ratio, reflecting the percentage of consumers who choose to renew their policies with Tata AIA, has earned the Company the top rank in four out of five persistency cohorts. The 13-month persistency ratio (based on premium) improved to 88.1% in FY23 from 87.8% from the previous year while total Renewal Premium income recorded growth of 32% to ₹ 11,964 crore in FY23 (₹ 9,086 crore).

The Company continues to focus on improving consumer experience through real-time listening and the RCA (Root Cause Analysis) framework. Additionally, the Company measures Consumer Satisfaction (CSAT) scores across eight touchpoints and Consumer Effort scores across nine touchpoints. These initiatives have helped Tata AIA improve its Net Promoter Score (NPS) to 68 in FY23.

About Tata AIA Life

Tata AIA Life Insurance Company Limited (Tata AIA Life) is a joint venture company formed by Tata Sons Pvt. Ltd. and AIA Group Ltd. (AIA). Tata AIA Life combines Tata's pre-eminent leadership position in India and AIA's presence as the largest, independent listed pan-Asian life insurance group in the world, spanning 18 markets in the Asia Pacific region.

About the Tata Group 

Founded by Jamsetji Tata in 1868, the Tata group is a global enterprise, headquartered in India, comprising 30 companies across ten verticals.

The group operates in more than 100 countries across six continents, with a mission 'To improve the quality of life of the communities we serve globally, through long-term stakeholder value creation based on Leadership with Trust'.

Tata Sons is the principal investment holding company and promoter of Tata companies. Sixty-six percent of the equity share capital of Tata Sons is held by philanthropic trusts, which support education, health, livelihood generation, art, and culture.

In 2021-22, the revenue of Tata companies, taken together, was $128 billion (INR 9.6 trillion). These companies collectively employ over 935,000 people.

Each Tata company or enterprise operates independently under the guidance and supervision of its own board of directors. There are 29 publicly listed Tata enterprises with a combined market capitalization of $311 billion (INR 23.6 trillion) as on March 31, 2022.

Companies include Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Motors, Tata Steel, Tata Chemicals, Tata Consumer Products, Titan, Tata Capital, Tata Power, Indian Hotels, Tata Communications, Tata Digital, and Tata Electronics.

About AIA

AIA Group Limited and its subsidiaries (collectively "AIA" or the "Group") comprise the largest independent publicly listed pan-Asian life insurance group. It has a presence in 18 markets – wholly-owned branches and subsidiaries in Mainland China, Hong Kong SAR, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, New Zealand, the Philippines, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan (China), Vietnam, Brunei, and Macau SAR, and a 49 per cent joint venture in India.

The business that is now AIA was first established in Shanghai more than a century ago in 1919. It is a market leader in Asia (ex-Japan) based on life insurance premiums and holds leading positions across the majority of its markets. It had total assets of US$302 billion as of 30 June 2022.

AIA meets the long-term savings and protection needs of individuals by offering a range of products and services including life insurance, accident and health insurance and savings plans. The Group also provides employee benefits, credit life and pension services to corporate clients. Through an extensive network of agents, partners and employees across Asia, AIA serves the holders of more than 40 million individual policies and over 17 million participating members of group insurance schemes.

AIA Group Limited is listed on the Main Board of The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited under the stock code "1299" with American Depositary Receipts (Level 1) traded on the over-the-counter market (ticker symbol: "AAGIY").