The youngest start-up from the GirnarSoft stable of companies, InsuranceDekho is banking on a three-pronged strategy to become India’s largest advisory-led insurance marketplace, according to Ankit Agrawal, the company’s co-founder and CEO. Even as the insurance technology firm looks to leverage the widespread footprint and brand heft of its sister firm — CarDekho — in the motor insurance segment, it is also eyeing a chunk of the larger non-motor, non-life space.
“There is a huge opportunity here. We have three channels which we are looking to tap: car dealerships, a point of sale (PoS) channel of on-ground agents and partners and our online platform,” Agrawal said.
Launched in June this year, the firm is already issued nearly half a million policies in total, with a presence in 350 cities and over 10,000 partners. It is headquartered in Gurgaon with four branch offices in Ludhiana, Noida, Sri Ganganagar and Udyog Vihar. According to Agrawal, while 95 per cent of the firm’s business comes from the motor insurance segment, the non-motor segment has recorded substantial growth, albeit on a small base. “Our PoS model has also taken off very strongly over the last few months. Meanwhile, our car dealership channel accounts for around 20 per cent of the total business,” he said.
The firm is strongly focused on taking its services to the “Real Bharat”, as Agrawal calls India’s smaller towns and cities. “There is a huge opportunity here because the level of consumer awareness is very low. We also believe we’ve barely scratched the surface as far as the dealer channel is concerned. We are also uniquely positioned because of our association with CarDekho,” noted Agrawal.
“Our main differentiator is our claim settlement process … Because we work very closely with underwriters, some claims are settled as quickly as 24 hours,” he said. It uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to simplify and quicken the claim settlement process, the CEO pointed out, while also using AI to ensure profitability for their partners. Going forward, InsuranceDekho aims to leverage and grow the new non-motor general insurance segment.