Insurance Sales Stay Human

DECODE THE NEWS

Insurance Sector Won’t See The Death Of The Salesman Anytime Soon

What?

The Indian insurance industry is making rapid digital strides — from piloting artificial intelligence (AI) processes that detect a smoker via video to settling death claims without consumers walking into an office, and much more.

Yet, when it comes to selling an insurance policy to a person, it’s a human being that seems to be doing a better job, explained Mahesh Balasubramaniam, managing director of Kotak Mahindra Life Insurance Company.

Kotak Life, which has end-to-end digital processes such as AI-led hyper-personalisation for customers and agency tools, is still doubling down on physical branches. It plans to add 70 more branches by the end of the year to hit a target of 400.

“I don't think we are at a stage where all our products are consumed completely digitally. Secondly, our business model, especially in life insurance, is still phygital when it comes to selling, right?” says Balasubramaniam.

Why?

Much of insurance sales comes from bancassurance, or agencies for top private companies, with very low contribution from direct or digital sales.

Pure digital sales are still in lower single digits for most companies, said experts. LIC, however, sells most of its life insurance via agents.

Sector experts also noted that long-lifecycle product purchases, such as life insurance, are not merely transactional but require a human touch.

“The products need explanation, hand-holding with research. Human agents are needed for the high emotional intensity to sell the processing. While misselling does happen due to the same reason, buyers need the validation of a human. A digital channel cannot build that trust,” said Abhishek Kumar, founder & chief investment advisor of SahajMoney.

BUILD ON BLOCKCHAIN

Hackers’ Hands Are In The Cookie Jar, But Blockchain Can Snap The Lid Shut

What?

About a fortnight ago, cybersecurity researchers confirmed that over 16 billion login credentials were leaked and compiled into datasets online, giving criminals access to accounts consumers use each day.

The breach involved not only passwords but also browsing session cookies and personal metadata. What this means is that a hacker could impersonate a user across platforms, such as Google, Apple and Facebook, even without using passwords.

What Now?

According to some experts, the solution to this problem could lie in moving away from passwords and placing our faith in blockchain-based identity systems, where users, not companies, own and control their digital identities.

In the traditional model, when you create a password for a website, it gets saved in an external database. If that database is breached, your digital credentials are exposed.

But a blockchain-based identity, available right now mostly for small businesses, works differently. You hold a private passkey, stored on your personal device. No one else has it, and no central authority keeps it on your behalf.

How does it work?

This series is brought to you in partnership with Algorand. 

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CORE NUMBER

$11.7 billion

That’s the total budget for India’s new employment-linked incentive (ELI) scheme approved by the cabinet, according to Reuters. The plan aims to create nearly 35 million jobs over two years by offering subsidies to employers and first-time employees.

📈 The broader context:
• First-time workers will get one month’s wages up to Rs 15,000.
• Employers will receive up to Rs 3,000 per month for two years per new employee retained for at least six months.
• Manufacturing sector benefits will extend another two years.

💼 Why it matters:
Despite strong gross domestic product (GDP) growth, youth unemployment remains high at nearly 18% in urban areas.

Air Safety Under Scanner: Weeks after the Air India crash that killed 260 people on June 12 in Ahmedabad, India’s aviation safety is being scrutinised at the highest level.

Catch Up Quick: A parliamentary panel will meet on July 9 to question Air India, IndiGo, airport operators, and regulators on passenger safety. While the crash isn’t formally on the agenda, lawmakers say it will be discussed, Reuters reported.

Next Steps: “If we do not raise questions on it, they (airlines) will not become vigilant about these issues,” said RK Chaudhary, a Lok Sabha member on the panel. India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau, with US help, is probing the crash. Lawmakers say tough scrutiny is key to accountability.

Real Estate Growth Moderates: India’s residential real estate market is entering a phase of stable, moderate growth after three years of post-pandemic recovery. Demand is projected to rise 5–7% this fiscal and next, with prices appreciating 4–6%, according to Crisil Ratings. Premium and luxury homes are driving this growth, aided by rising incomes and urbanisation.

By the Numbers: The share of premium and luxury launches has jumped from 9% in 2020 to 37% in 2024 and is expected to hit 40% by 2026. Meanwhile, debt-to-cash flow ratios have improved from 5.6x in FY20 to 1.1–1.3x.

What’s Next? Supply will likely continue to outpace demand, nudging inventory levels slightly higher. But strong collections, deleveraged balance sheets, and rising equity inflows are expected to keep developers financially sound.

Steel Imports Slide Sharply: India’s finished steel imports fell 27.6% year-on-year to 0.9 million metric tons in April-May, as shipments from China and Japan plunged 47.7% and 65.6%, respectively, Reuters reported.

Backdrop: The sharp drop follows India’s move in April to impose a 12% temporary tariff—called a safeguard duty—to curb cheap steel inflows, mainly from China. Meanwhile, South Korea bucked the trend, becoming India’s top exporter with an 8.2% rise in shipments.

Impact: Despite the dip in imports, India remained a net importer as exports fell 18%. Domestic steel consumption, however, rose 7.1%, thanks to strong local demand.

😒 UGHH

USAID Cuts Could Cause 14 Million Deaths. Earlier this year, US President Trump slashed USAID by 83%, a move that could cause over 14 million deaths by 2030 across the world, of whom a third are children. A study by the medical journal The Lancet said that the US Agency for International Development (USAID) contributed 40% of global humanitarian funding until Mr. Trump put the agency “through the woodchopper,” in Elon Musk’s words. 

Fast Facts: The study analysed data from over 133 countries and estimated that USAID prevented 91 million deaths in developing countries between 2001 to 2021. Specifically, there were 65% fewer deaths from HIV/AIDS, and 50% less from malaria and other tropical diseases, thanks to USAID.

Critical Moment: “For many low- and middle-income countries, the resulting shock would be comparable in scale to a global pandemic or a major armed conflict,” said study co-author David Rasella, a researcher at the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal).

THE MEDIA ROOM

‘Good Journalism’: Anant Goenka’s Playbook For A Newspaper In A Digital World

Like other segments of the media, news too has now become digital first. In such a scenario, how does a newspaper like The Indian Express stay relevant? According to Anant Goenka, executive director of The Indian Express Group, it's just good journalism.

“I think and maybe I'm sounding like I'm sitting on a high horse when I say this, but I feel that 4,500 newspapers, lakhs of registered publications, 500 news channels, I don't even know how many Twitter handles, YouTube accounts… I think in all that space somehow we are a growing organisation as a newspaper company and a digital entity and we are doing that because we are differentiated and our differentiation is just that we are sticking to credibility, integrity and doing good journalism,” Goenka told Vanita Kohli-Khandekar in the latest episode of The Media Room.

Not only do newspapers have to deal with competition from digital outlets and television news, they also have to deal with the problem of perception — that the newspaper is dead. Numbers tell a different story. However, India continues to be one of the largest newspaper-reading populations in the world.

“ I feel like we have a formidable, formidable digital presence, between our digital and print, if we do something big on print, and we're going big on digital, the impact that print brings in India, unmatched, unmatched, I think even television doesn't come close to it,” said Goenka.

What is good journalism? And how can it lead to good business for a newspaper at a time when more and more are consuming news through digital media?

PODCAST

On Episode 621 of The Core Report, financial journalist Govindraj Ethiraj talks to Amit Pabari, Managing Director at CR Forex. We also feature an excerpt from our upcoming interview with Jerry Chu, CEO at Lofty AI, part of our Build on Blockchain Series.

• The markets wait for the tariff talks to end with optimism and hope

• India’s factory output is up

• Why valuations of consumer facing companies are stretched beyond belief

• The rupee closed higher but why is it lagging Asian peers when the dollar is still weak

• India has a Rs 100,000 crore R&D budget set aside

• India’s GST numbers come in lower

• Build on Blockchain

👥 THE TEAM

✍️ Zinal Dedhia, Salman SH, Kudrat Wadhwa | ✂️ Rohini Chatterji | 🎧 Joshua Thomas