Star Union Dai-ichi Life Insurance: Revolutionizing Indian Life Insurance Domain With Unique Solutions
Ganesh Muruga R
Executive Vice President- Retail Sales
In an exclusive interview with CEO Insights, Ganesh Muruga R, Executive Vice President, Star Union Dai-ichi Life Insurance shares the unique propositions the organization offers to its clients, the skillsets that the firm has been expecting from its potential candidates, and much more:
Define Star Union Daiichi Life Insurance as an organization and its position in the market? What is the unique proposition that your organization offers to its employees?
Starting in 2009, SUD Life Insurance is a joint venture between Bank of India, Union Bank of India, and Dai-ichi Life Holdings, Japan. While Bank of India and Union Bank of India are well-known PSUs in India, Dai-ichi is the second-largest insurance company in Japan as well as one of the top 10 insurance companies in the world. We are primarily in the bancassurance space where we are currently utilizing the existing customer base of our parent and partner banks while ensuring that the existing customers of Bank of India and Union Bank are well covered and protected. We also have an employee base of more than 4700 people with a large distribution team spread across the country of more than 4000 people.
Being a fairly new player in the life
insurance domain, we have been consistently on a growth curve since our inception. Breaking even in its 6th year of inception, the firm also became profitable in its 10th year of operation itself when we gave out our maiden dividend to our stakeholders. Since the beginning, we have ensured that we are capital-light, will manage our costs, will remain efficient, and will ensure that we are creating value for our stakeholders. We also have a value system, known as ECHO, imbibed in our day to-day operations, which stands for empathy, collaboration, humility, and ownership. Recently, we have also added innovation to our value system and are aiming to be a technology-led organization in the coming few years.
Tell us about the technology environment the employees get to work in. What are the growth opportunities and recognition the employees can expect from the organization?
We have a very strong IT team. The Chief infrastructure security officer appointed by the organization ensures that employees are up to date with the requirements and the guidelines in terms of cyber security that IRDA has laid down for us. We also have a very strong Sales Compliance & Fraud control unit that ensure all the compliances that have been laid out, are being followed. Even a lot of awareness programs are conducted frequently to help us remain compliant.
We have a very robust reward and recognition platform to recognize talents who are putting their sweat and blood consistently. It’s our sales team as well as the partner banks, who bring in the revenue, and we have a very competitive reward and recognition scheme for them. We also provide a competitive salary structure to our employees that is one of the best in the industry. We have an internal three-tier recognition program called Nakshatra that comprises spot awards, quarterly awards as well as annual awards. We have arranged for international trips as well as cruise trips for employees completing monthly targets through the various campaign and also have internal competitions such as essay
Tell us about the technology environment the employees get to work in. What are the growth opportunities and recognition the employees can expect from the organization?
We have a very strong IT team. The Chief infrastructure security officer appointed by the organization ensures that employees are up to date with the requirements and the guidelines in terms of cyber security that IRDA has laid down for us. We also have a very strong Sales Compliance & Fraud control unit that ensure all the compliances that have been laid out, are being followed. Even a lot of awareness programs are conducted frequently to help us remain compliant.
People, who have an entrepreneurial mindset and consider the job as their job rather than a corporate job, are the ones who generally become successful in their role
We have a very robust reward and recognition platform to recognize talents who are putting their sweat and blood consistently. It’s our sales team as well as the partner banks, who bring in the revenue, and we have a very competitive reward and recognition scheme for them. We also provide a competitive salary structure to our employees that is one of the best in the industry. We have an internal three-tier recognition program called Nakshatra that comprises spot awards, quarterly awards as well as annual awards. We have arranged for international trips as well as cruise trips for employees completing monthly targets through the various campaign and also have internal competitions such as essay
writing competitions, thought paper writing competitions, and so on and publish the best ones in the well-known industry magazines.
What does Star Union Dai-ichi Life Insurance expect from new candidates in terms of attitude, work ethics, and talent, among others?
For us, an employee must be compatible with our value system, known as ECHO, as well as integrity, and collaboration. We would always choose an above-average value-driven person over a star performer who might compromise on the values. We are looking for people who are customer-obsessed with a service mentality who will be always looking forward to delighting the customers and the stakeholders, whether it is internal or external. Innovation or a digital mindset is also something that we look for in our potential employees. People, who have an entrepreneurial mindset and consider the job as their job rather than a corporate job, are the ones who generally become successful in their role.
What is the future roadmap of Star Union Dai-ichi Life Insurance? What are the futuristic market opportunities that the firm intends to invest in?
As a new company, we saw a 66% business growth in the previous financial year as compared to the overall industry growth of 30% and we are also expecting a similar kind of growth in the coming years. We are working on becoming more technology-driven by enhancing our technology as well as system processes. We are also selling a lot of products that we launch through the digital medium rather than doing it physically. We are also working on increasing our customer value proposition and want our customers to have a positive experience with us as their positive word of mouth helps us get more business. We are also focused on ESG (Environmental, social, and corporate governance) through the SUD Life Foundation, under which, we have been doing a lot of socially driven activities. We have adopted a couple of villages in Maharashtra and are working on improving the infrastructure, improving the irrigation system as well as the water system, educating the children, empowering the women, and so on.
Ganesh Muruga R, Executive Vice President- Retail Sales Star Union Dai-ichi Life Insurance
Ganesh is a seasoned sales leader with a track record of success in the insurance sector. Strong sales professional with experience in sales management, product strategy, process and compliance management.
What does Star Union Dai-ichi Life Insurance expect from new candidates in terms of attitude, work ethics, and talent, among others?
For us, an employee must be compatible with our value system, known as ECHO, as well as integrity, and collaboration. We would always choose an above-average value-driven person over a star performer who might compromise on the values. We are looking for people who are customer-obsessed with a service mentality who will be always looking forward to delighting the customers and the stakeholders, whether it is internal or external. Innovation or a digital mindset is also something that we look for in our potential employees. People, who have an entrepreneurial mindset and consider the job as their job rather than a corporate job, are the ones who generally become successful in their role.
What is the future roadmap of Star Union Dai-ichi Life Insurance? What are the futuristic market opportunities that the firm intends to invest in?
As a new company, we saw a 66% business growth in the previous financial year as compared to the overall industry growth of 30% and we are also expecting a similar kind of growth in the coming years. We are working on becoming more technology-driven by enhancing our technology as well as system processes. We are also selling a lot of products that we launch through the digital medium rather than doing it physically. We are also working on increasing our customer value proposition and want our customers to have a positive experience with us as their positive word of mouth helps us get more business. We are also focused on ESG (Environmental, social, and corporate governance) through the SUD Life Foundation, under which, we have been doing a lot of socially driven activities. We have adopted a couple of villages in Maharashtra and are working on improving the infrastructure, improving the irrigation system as well as the water system, educating the children, empowering the women, and so on.
Ganesh Muruga R, Executive Vice President- Retail Sales Star Union Dai-ichi Life Insurance
Ganesh is a seasoned sales leader with a track record of success in the insurance sector. Strong sales professional with experience in sales management, product strategy, process and compliance management.