A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF HEALTH
INSURANCE WITH REFERENCE TO
BIRLA LIFE INSURANCE AND LIFE
INSURANCE CORPORATION OF INDIA
SUBMITTED BY
P RAMESH
2146-20-672-009
MBA III SEMESTER
PADALA RAMA REDDI COLLEGE OF COMMERCE &
MANAGEMENT
INTRODUCTION
People always search for security whether it is related to their assets or their lives. Today due to rapid economic
and industrial development several social and environmental changes have been taken hence people today are
more vulnerable to uncertainties so they are in hurry to have physical and economic security. These
environmental and social changes are out of control of human being hence more formalized means are required to
mitigate the losses arises out of adverse situation like death of prime member of family, loss of income due to
death or health problems, loss of property, situation of unemployment in old age etc. Definitely no one can
predict the unfortunate situation and amount of loss due to these, which would accrue in the future but he/she can
do management in present through insurance to bear the losses in future. Insurance is defined as a form of risk
management primarily used to hedge against unforeseen risks of contingent losses. Insurance is the equitable
transfer of the risks from the possibility of occurrence of losses, from one person to another, in return insured
person pay a fixed amount of premium as per rules and regulation to the insured. As a result the ramifications of a
large and devastating loss can be minimized to a great extent. In other word insurance is a social device through
which insured transfers his risk to insurer by contributing a little amount that is known as premium. So it is a
method to have security against financial losses up to some limit. Insurance is a written contract between the two
parties for a consideration (premium) to pay a pre fixed amount of money at the time when adverse situation
arises in future for which the contract has been made. It is a method to shift risk of one policyholder to other
policy holders of the same company.
Type of Insurance :
Life Insurance: It is the insurance which give protection form bad situation to insured person’s family
in case of death of insured or give a lump sum amount to insured at the end of maturity of policy which
is great help for him. It is a contract between the insurer and insured upon human life. Life insurance is
a way to secure the lives of rest of the family members when principal member of the family dies. So
the main subject matter of life insurance is life of human being.
General Insurance: All the insurance other then Life Insurance comes under General Insurance like
Fire Insurance, Marine Insurance, Motor Insurance, Health Insurance, Fidelity, Burglary, Liability
Insurance etc.
Social Insurance: It is the insurance which provide protection to the weaker section of society. Such
type of insurance is provisioned by the states and central government. Pension, Sickness Insurance,
Industrial Insurance, Disability benefit etc. are the examples of social Insurance.
The Indian General Insurance Market :
The general insurance industry of India constituted by the 6 public sector insurance companies (out of 6
public insurers, 2 insurers (ECGC and AIC) are specialized insurer) and 17 private sector insurance
companies. There is one re-insurer that is GIC. These companies are providing their services in different
line of insurance business. Apart from this there are 4 Standalone Health Insurers. So in total there are
28 general insurance companies in India doing business in different line of insurance.
NEED OF THE STUDY
Today, hectic lives, irregularities and stress make
the one more vulnerable to disease. On the other
hand medical inflation is running at double digits.
It has become difficult to bear the increasing
costs of the doctor’s fee and hospital charges. In
this situation if one have medical insurance than
it safe our health and also reduce financial
anxiety and mental stress associated with illness.
This Illustration gives a clear picture.
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
To understand the present scenario of health
insurance
To understand current distribution channels
To understand innovative distribution channels
To understand future growth of health insurance
SCOPE OF THE STUDY
This study covers various aspects of the present
scenario of the health insurance industry
premium trend, distribution channels, state wise
distribution of premium, types of health
insurance policies, coverage under a health
insurance policy, intermediaries supporting health
insurance business, challenges faced by the
health insurance industry, opportunities available
in health insurance industry, role of the regulator.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Every researcher needs some data to analyze the situation
and to find out final results. This project report was carried
out through secondary research from IRDA website,
Health Insurance journals and E&Y annual report.
Data Analysis and Interpretation:
The research is based upon two types of analysis that is
qualitative. As per need, the collected data has been
classified, tabulated and analyzed. The statistical tools, Pie
charts and bar graphs have been used.
Primary Data: This is the data which does not exist, hence has not
been used by any researcher earlier for his research work. Such data
collected first time for specific research work. In short the data
which is newer and never used earlier called primary data. It can be
collected through several methods like questionnaire, direct
interviews of respective officials, survey and discussion with people
etc.
Secondary Data: The data which is already available in the market
and/or have been used by several researchers known as secondary
data. Such type of data would be collected through websites of
respective organization, their annual reports, various journals, news
papers and books on related topics.
LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY:
Due to number of restraint in terms of time, resource and efforts only the
two companies, (Birla Life Insurance) from Private sector and Life
Insurance from Public Sector has been taken for research work.
There are wide range of health insurance products offered by different
health insurers so only two basic products “ Individual Mediclaim Policy
and Family Floater Medicalim Policy” has been considered for research
work and the responses regarding Individual and Floater Mediclaim policy
only, has been analyzed.
Since the views form the customers of only the four companies has been
analyzed so generalization of findings of the study should be considered
carefully.
Secondary data has also been used in research so the limitation inherent in
it should be considered.
