Joint Venture

When joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions had become the flavour across HDFC, Chubb chose to estrange their joint venture on account of disagreements on business strategies. Having set forth the journey as a collaboration of two like minded companies committed to meet customers need, the entities have now turned bete noire, with clear intentions of pursuing individual goals. For that matter, HDFC Standard Life has not been going great guns; it has been skidding on the numbers front. Once upon a time in 2006-07, it occupied the number two slot, which it has lost to the more aggressive Bajaj Allianz. The premium underwritten for the company up to May 2007 stands at Rs.2.22 billion (constituting 9.76% of private collections; and 3.03% of the industry collections) as compared to ICICI Prudential and Bajaj Allianz whose premium for the same period stands at Rs.6.32 billion and Rs.4.08 billion respectively. Undoubtedly, HDFC occupies the coveted third slot. Yet, what is worth pondering over and a reason for concern is the remarkable difference in the premiums. The company is certainly working on the distribution issue. Sanjay Tripathy, Head Marketing, HDFC Standard Life, puts it to 4Ps B&M, “The year 2007-08 will see HDFC Standard Life expanding its geographical reach by opening new offices and increasing its financial consultants’ base.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative