Upstox forays into insurance distribution; aims to simplify wealth management in India

Upstox, one of India’s premier wealth management platforms, today announced its entry into the insurance distribution business. While Upstox has traditionally been recognized for its offerings in Stocks, F&O, and Mutual Funds, the introduction of Insurance marks a significant stride towards evolving into a comprehensive wealth-building platform.  Today, Upstox is a one-stop-shop for a wide array of financial instruments including Stocks, IPOs, F&O, Commodities, Currencies, Fixed Deposits, P2P Lending, Government Bonds, T-Bills, NCDs, Gold, Insurance and much more.

With this launch, the company aims to revolutionise India’s insurance landscape by offering its users a simplified, transparent and customised experience of purchasing insurance in line with their needs. Currently, Upstox is offering Term Life Insurance on its platform and is planning to roll out Health, Motor and Travel Insurance soon. HDFC Life is among the first insurers to partner with Upstox and feature their Term Insurance plans on the platform.

Currently, the insurance penetration in India stands at just 4.2% with a considerable portion of the population still being dependent on traditional and agent-driven models to purchase policies. Along with that, there is a lack of awareness, overload of choices, heavy paperwork and complex jargon involved in the process of buying insurance. Through its research, Upstox recognized that often users succumb to a one-size-fits-all approach; and opt for a term insurance plan without proper assessment. Upstox has thus set out to solve the gross mis-selling of insurance products and embarked on a monumental task of streamlining Life, Health, Motor, Travel insurance for its customers. By leveraging advanced technology and industry expertise, Upstox aims to simplify the insurance process – from identifying the top plans in each category to purchasing insurance and finally making the claim process smooth.

Upstox is also trying to encourage younger Indians to consider and start thinking about insurance earlier as that effectively helps them reduce their premium costs.  To make its customers’ journey more simple and intuitive, the company has done the heavy lifting for customers by tying up with the top insurance providers in the country and analysing various plans to provide their customers with the most suitable option.

By guiding customers through a set of targeted questions, Upstox then navigates them towards the most suitable plan. Additionally, the feature of the cover amount calculator empowers users to accurately assess their insurance requirements, enabling them to determine the optimal coverage amount.

Kavitha Subramanian, Co-Founder, Upstox said, “We are thrilled to expand our offerings on Upstox and foray into the insurance distribution segment. We have recognized that navigating the insurance landscape is a daunting task. Customers are inundated with so many questions – which is the right plan, what should be the correct criteria to select a plan, how much insurance cover will be enough. At Upstox, we understand these challenges, and we’re dedicated to helping our customers get answers to all of these without overwhelming them. Our aim is to help customers cut through the noise and help Indians Invest Right. We are constantly working towards making our platform simple, secure, fast, and intuitive. With the launch of insurance on our platform, we will remain steadfast in our endeavour of helping our users manage their wealth effectively for a secure financial future. And to accomplish this, we’re delighted to have HDFC Life as our first insurance partners.”

Commenting on this collaboration, Suresh Badami, Deputy Managing Director, HDFC Life said, “We are pleased to announce our partnership with Upstox. This marks another stride towards realising India’s goal of ‘Insurance for All’ by 2047. We aim to utilise our distribution and digital capabilities to extend our insurance solutions to their entire customer base and enhance the value of this partnership.”

In addition, insurance offerings on Upstox are very transparent. With upfront insights on claim settlement ratios for 1 and 3 years, the volume of complaints, amount settlement ratios, solvency ratios (below 1.7 are considered risky), plan features, inclusions/exclusions, and settlement timelines, Upstox aims to educate the user about what they are purchasing. Upstox is now home to a user base of over 1.3 crore and constantly strives to help users cut through the market noise and Invest Right.