Insured -----for Laughs

Pawan Verma

BEFORE I joined the life insurance industry, I had always believed that life insurance was a serious subject. For the simple reason that although we call it life insurance, we always deal with death and disabilities, trauma and accidents.

I discovered very soon that there was a lighter side to this otherwise serious business as well. On deputation to one of our overseas establishments on the very first day at office, I had a letter on my table for signature. Addressed to a customer who had just been insured for a big sum, it read, “It gives us immense pleasure to inform you that proposal for insurance has been accepted. The first premium under the policy has been adjusted by us and we note that the future premiums will be paid by the widows and orphans.”

Leaving aside the crudity of the message, I was wondering whether the life insurance industry in developed countries had moved so much ahead as to take as to take just one premium and leave the rest to the widows and orphans to pay! It was only when I demanded an explanation from the office assistant that I learnt that our customer was the Chief Executive of the Widows and Orphans’ Society, which had taken insurance on the life of its employee and was going to pay the future premiums.

The incident turned out to be only the beginning of the shape of things to come. As it happened one afternoon, when I was about to leave the office after a busy day, the telephone rang. There was a lady on the other side, saying in a rather concerned and nervous tone that she had just given birth to twins. She was enquiring if it would have any impact on her life insurance policy. Unable to hear her clearly because of a disturbed line, I asked her, “Will you repeat it, madam?” She was firm and decisive, “Not at all, Sir, if I can help it.”

It is not that the other side of insurance, that is, the non-life insurance, has any less life in it. The story goes that one wealthy lady, before going on a trip to Europe, got her entire wardrobe insured. After arriving in London, she found one of her gowns missing. So she sent a message to her insurance company, “Gown lifted in London”. The smart manager unwilling to entertain the claim immediately shot back, “Madam, what do you think our policy covers?”

What is interesting is that there is a lot of synergy generated between these two sides of insurance being managed by two different corporations in India. They immensely contribute to each other’s business. This is beautifully illustrated by the story of the rich farmer whose tractor was stolen. Since the tractor was insured, the insurance company’s manager came to help him fill in the claim forms.

As a value addition to the service provide by the company, the manager also offered the farmer another tractor, suggesting that he could use the same till the claim was processed and he could get the money to buy another one.

The farmer was too happy with the services offered. He said to the manager, “Well, if that is the way your company does its business, why don’t you insure my wife as well?”

(First Published in Hindustan Times, Edit Page, dated 14.02.2000)