India: Aviva Life Insurance increases capital base by Rs 344.3 crores

Aviva Life Insurance today announced an increase in its capital base by Rs 344.3 crores, taking the total paid-up capital to Rs 1,348.8 crores. The fresh infusion will help fuel Aviva's aggressive growth plans for 2008.

Aviva Life Insurance today announced an increase in its capital base by Rs 344.3 crores, taking the total paid-up capital to Rs 1,348.8 crores. The fresh infusion will help fuel Aviva's aggressive growth plans for 2008.

Bert Paterson, CEO & managing director Aviva India, said: "Aviva has a long-term commitment to India and the additional capital infusion of Rs 344.3 crores will allow us to execute our aggressive growth plans for 2008-09. We already have a strong presence in more than 3,000 locations across India via 221 branches and close to 40 bancassurance partnerships and have sold over a million policies. We will use the additional capital to explore new distribution networks and invest towards training programmes to improve productivity of our sales force."

Aviva India has recorded a CAGR of 97% in terms of APE, since inception in 2002. The company has recorded healthy sales growth in both the direct sales force and bancassurance channels. Aviva has many firsts to its credit. Some of the key initiatives include pioneering bancassurance in India, being among the first to have an in-house fund management team, pioneering innovative unit linked products and investing in training of financial planning advisers.

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For further information, please contact:
Pooja Garg Khan
Aviva Life Insurance                                 
Phone: 0124- 2709082
E-mail: pooja.khan@avivaindia.com   

Notes to editors:

About Aviva India 
­­Aviva Life Insurance is a joint venture between Dabur and Aviva. Current paid up capital amounts to 758 crores. Dabur are the 74% shareholder and Aviva the 26% shareholder. Aviva plc is the UK's largest insurance group and the world's oldest insurance group, with a history dating back to 1696. Today, it is the fifth largest insurer worldwide, with 40 million customers and £377 billion assets under management. Prior to nationalization, Aviva was the biggest of the foreign insurers operating in the Indian market.

Founded in 1884, Dabur is one of India's oldest and largest groups of companies with the group's consolidated annual sales in excess of Rs 2,233 crores. A professionally managed company it is the country's leading producer of traditional healthcare products.

Aviva pioneered the concept of Bancassurance in India, and has leveraged its global expertise in this area successfully in India. Bancassurance has been contributing close to 60% of the total sales of Aviva India. Through its branches and its Bancassurance partner locations, Aviva products are available in more than 1,600 towns and cities across India.  

Aviva's products have been designed in a manner to provide customers flexibility, transparency and value for money. We have been among the first companies to introduce Unit Linked products in the market.

Aviva has a unique need based sales approach through the "Financial Health Check" (FHC). The FHC is a free service administered by our FPAs (Financial Planning Advisers) for a need-based analysis of the customer's long-term savings and insurance needs. Depending on the life stage and earnings of the customer, the Financial Health Check assesses and recommends the right insurance product for them.