Says Birla Sun Life CEO Nani B Javeri: "We are in talks with both public and private sector banks for bancassurance. In fact, we already have similar arrangements with Citibank and Deutsche Bank."

The arrangements with the banks, he says, will be formulated after studying the strengths of these banks. "It will be either a national player or a strong regional one. These arrangements will help us gather more business in future."

After creating a direct sales force comprising 2,000 agents, whom the company calls advisors, Birla Sun Life is now concentrating on a second set of marketing arrangements. This will comprise corporate advisors, direct marketing, group insurance and bancassurance.