Birla Sun Life Insurance, one of the pioneers in the life insurance industry to implement innovative service standards and processes, are pleased to inform you that it has achieved the best “Outstanding Claims Ratios” within the life insurance industry in India. In fact there has been a continuous improvement in its performance on the “Outstanding Claims Ratio” for 4 consecutive years in a row. For the Financial Year 2006 – 07 it has achieved the distinction of being the Only Life Insurance Company to have achieved an Outstanding Claims Ratio of less than 1% and has achieved Outstanding Claims ratio of just 0.41%. It is quite noteworthy that BSLI has calculated the above ratio taking into account only Death (Mortality) & Rider (Morbidity) claims and has not included Maturity/ Surrender Claims in the calculation of the ‘Outstanding Claims Ratio’.

This effectively means that of every 100 claims intimated to BSLI in financial year 2006-07, 99.59 stands cleared in the same financial year and the balance 0.41 would be pending due to reasons of non-submission of basic claim requirements.

It is to the credit of BSLI, being a young Company and having received 71% of the claims during the ‘Contestable’ period (i.e. Claims arising within 2 years of issuance of Policy) to achieve such low outstanding claims ratio.

The measure of BSLI’s claims performance can be known from the fact that for the year 2006 – 07 the average outstanding claims ratio in the industry as we understand is around 20% as compared to BSLI’s 0.41%.

Commenting on the performance, Mr.Vikram Mehmi, President & CEO, Birla Sun Life Insurance, said “In the life insurance industry, claims settlement is a very important parameter for service performance. As a customer centric organisation we have brought in place, the best claims settlement process with standards equivalent to the best international standards. In a benchmarking study done by us, BSLI fared way ahead of competition on Claims Servicing Productivity. We have made the claims process simple and specific to ensure that all legitimate claims are processed as soon as possible. With the above achievements, we believe BSLI continues to reinforce the faith amongst the public & the Insured population in its 'Customer first' approach.”

Outstanding Claims Ratio:
‘Outstanding Claims Ratio’ is the ratio of number of claims pending for settlement at the end of the financial year vis-à-vis the total number of claims intimated to the company in the same financial year plus claims outstanding at the beginning of the Financial Year. In life insurance industry, an outstanding claims ratio is inevitable. The real test of an insurance company lies in keeping it to the lowest minimum possible by having the right processes in place, enabling early submission of claim requirements and deciding on the claims swiftly.

Commenting on other Highlights/ Achievements of BSLI in the field of Claims, Mr. Mario Braganza, Chief Operating Officer, Birla Sun Life Insurance said, “Another feather in our cap is the speedy settlement of claims as was revealed by LOMA Asia (Annual) Survey 2006 wherein BSLI along with 28 other Insurance Companies across Asia had participated and BSLI stood first on this parameter having achieved average claim settlement time of just 4 days.

BSLI had conducted a unique survey called "Experience Co-creation" to receive direct feedback from the Claimant’s on our overall Claims Process. As such, we had contacted a sample size of 17% of all Claimant's & a very high percentage of over 90% of them more than agree that we have (i) speedy claim settlement process (ii) simplified claim form & process (iii) Adequate support by the Sales personnel at claims stage.

BSLI has one of the least number of claim litigations amongst all Insurance Companies and of the claim litigations decided by the authorities most of them have been in our favour. This augurs well for our customers & us.

At times where claims remain unpaid, we have observed that it is on account of certain vital information pertaining to his/ her medical and/or financial status, which the Client had not shared with the Insurer at the time of issuing policies. Considering the lack of information may not always be intentional, we have accepted and constantly endeavored to train the Insurance advisors so that they understand the possible hardships the beneficiary could undergo and guide our clients well for disclosing full information at the time of issuance of policy. Thus BSLI not only settle the claims promptly but also takes every effort right from the beginning to make the claim settlement process easier.

Birla Sun Life Insurance Company Limited is a joint venture between The Aditya Birla Group, one of the largest business houses in India and Sun Life Financial Inc., a leading international financial services organisation.  The local knowledge of the Aditya Birla Group combined with the expertise of Sun Life Financial Inc., offers a formidable protection for your future.

Additional information is available at www.adityabirla.com

The Aditya Birla Group has a turnover close to Rs. 38000 crores (as on March 31st , 2006) and is one of the largest business houses in India. It enjoys a leadership position in all the sectors in which it operates. With over 75 business units, spanning the South East Asian belt, Africa, Canada and the UK among others, it is reckoned as India's first multinational corporation. The group is anchored by 72,000 employees and has 7 lakh shareholders, with a market capitalization of Rs. 53,400 crores.

Additional information is available at www.adityabirla.com

Sun Life Financial Inc. is a leading international financial services organization providing a diverse range of wealth accumulation and protection products and services to individuals and corporate customers. Tracing its roots back to 1865, Sun Life Financial and its partners today have operations in key markets worldwide, including Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Japan, Indonesia, India, China and Bermuda. As of March 31st, 2006, the Sun Life Financial group of companies had total assets under management of USD 343 billion. Sun Life Financial Inc. trades on the Toronto (TSX), New York (NYSE) and Philippine (PSE) stock exchanges under ticker symbol "SLF".

Additional information can be found at www.sunlife.com

For further information kindly contact:
Ms. Anjana Grewal,
Sr. Vice President - Marketing & Communication,
Birla Sun Life Insurance Company Limited, Ph: 022-6678 3333.
E-mail: anjana@birlasunlife.com