rivate insurance player AMP Sanmar, a joint venture between AMP of Australia and the Chennai-based Sanmar group (which is into shipping, cement and financial services), recently launched three new insurance products in Mumbai to mark an entry into the market of western India. Since it set foot in India in January 2002, the company has focused its energies on the southern states and has managed to consolidate its market in pockets of Kerala and Andhra Pradesh - where the group was the first private player - to give state-owned LIC a taste of competition.

AMP Sanmar had announced its arrival on the life insurance scene in India, pinning its business hopes on the potential in small towns and villages and the brand-building effects of the then captain of the Australian cricket team, Steve Waugh. In the first 13 months of operations, the joint venture wrote 16,000 policies covering 25,000 lives. It earned an annualised premium of Rs 8.25 crores on a sum assured of Rs 120 crores. The individual was clearly its area of focus. ... more