ISSN No - RBS

Advent ofliberalization lead tothe imminent entryof global players inthe insurance sectorthat the Indiancompanies began tofeel the winds ofchange and startedgearing up to meetthe challenge.STATEMENT OF THEPROBLEMAdvent of liberalization lead to theimminent entry of global players inthe insurance sector that the Indiancompanies began to feel the winds ofchange and started gearing up tomeet the challenge. Various foreignprivate health insurers flocked theIndian Insurance Industry to tap theuninsured potential market. In therun to capture their share, theseprivate players have stepped into newmarketing techniques like innovateoffers, customer centric products,sound risk management practices soas to enhance service standards andto leave a landmark in service sector.Currently the industry hold 15private players and 4 major corporatehouses such as Hindujas, Ranbaxy,Pantaloon and BILT, have alreadyannounced plans to enter the segmentin the coming months. Nearly 86%Indian live without an insurancecover as they tend to believe thatnothing will happen to them and thattheir saving will take care of theirthings in adverse situation.According to NCAER survey declaredthat ‘though 74% of the households inthe state of Lucknow were aware ofhealth insurance facilities, not morethan 15% were actually availing thesefacilities’. A recent survey conductedacross 8 cities covering 1250customers by VOICE revealed, TataAIG as the winner in terms ofcustomer satisfaction in the healthinsurance category. This is India’sfirst-ever customer satisfaction forthe insurance sector. Based on theprevious studies on research surveysit is necessary to know therespondents awareness in theseprivate companies, their influencingfactors in selecting a particularprivate company, theiropinion/perception of servicesrendered towards the respondentsholding private policies in the existingprivate companies.OBJECTIVES OF THESTUDYThe following are the broad objectivesof the study:• To study the profile, purpose andinvesting practices of thecustomers holding policies inprivate health insurancecompanies• To study the awareness of thecustomers about the privatehealth insurance companies• To study the factors thatinfluences the customers inselecting the particular productsin private health insurancecompanies• To study the customers’opinion/perception towardsservices provided by the privatehealth insurance companies.METHODOLOGY OF THESTUDYThe area of the study was restrictedto Erode city. Primary data wascollected from 100 customers by usinga structured questionnaire.Convenient sampling method hasbeen administered in this study. The[ 80 ] Rai Management Journal