PhonePe bike insurance plans: Digital payments platform PhonePe has further strengthened its insurance portfolio. The company has now expanded into car and bike insurance segment in tie-up with Bajaj Allianz General Insurance. PhonePe had forayed into the insurance vertical beginning with travel insurance back in January this year followed by Coronavirus insurance in April with Bajaj Allianz General Insurance. Walmart-owned Flipkart had also entered into car and two-wheeler insurance market in May this year after offering life and Covid-19 health insurance. Later in July, Amazon’s payment arm Amazon Pay followed suit by offering two and four-wheeler insurance policies in partnership with car and bike insurance startup Acko General Insurance.

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PhonePe bike insurance plans

PhonePe, which claimed of over 230 million registered users, said that car and bike insurance customers would be able to renew their policies, get cashless repair services across a network of garages in India, and also instant claim settlement through new service. PhonePe said users would also be able to customize their car insurance plan based on their needs with offerings including zero depreciation, 24X7 roadside assistance, engine protection, etc.

“We believe there is tremendous headroom for growth in the motor insurance segment as two-wheelers account for 70% of the vehicles in the country and a bulk of these are uninsured,” said Gunjan Ghai, VP & Head of Insurance, PhonePe in a statement. “Motor insurance is necessary and provides protection during accidents. Still, we have many vehicles across India, both two-wheelers and four-wheelers, which are either not insured or are underinsured,” said Sourabh Chatterjee, President & Head – IT, Web Sales & Travel at Bajaj Allianz General Insurance.

PhonePe entered into the financial services space back in 2017 with the launch of its digital gold allowing users to buy 24-karat gold on its platform. The company has since launched mutual funds and other insurance financial products such as tax-saving funds and liquid funds.

India’s under-penetrated insurance market offered a huge opportunity for digital players to tap into. As per Statista, the overall insurance sector’s penetration was only 3.7 percent in 2018 while life insurance’s penetration was around 2.74 percent and for the non-life insurance segment, the market penetration was lower at 0.97 percent. In addition, the general insurance managed to penetration marginally from 0.6 percent in FY09 to 0.9 percent in FY19 vis-à-vis 2.8 percent global average.

Meanwhile, A day after recording its lowest single-day addition to Covid tally since August 18, India on Tuesday registered a spike of 63,517 cases, taking the total count to 72,39,390, and the death toll reached 110,617. About 47 percent of the Covid-19 deaths in the country had been recorded among those aged below 60 years, the Centre said on Tuesday, cautioning against any laxity towards taking precautions. It also stated that respiratory diseases escalate in winter.

One of China’s leading vaccine developers is working on a plan to inoculate students going overseas with Covid-19 shots that are yet to get regulatory approval, according to people familiar with the matter, as the country pushes scientific boundaries in the race for a viable immunization.
The global tally of coronavirus cases stands at 38,347,804. While 28,836,260 have recovered, 1,090,179 have died so far. The US, the worst-hit country, has 8,089,929 cases. It is followed by India, which has 72,39,390 cases, Brazil (5,114,823) and Russia (1,326,178).