ING Vysya Life grows 312 per cent in 2004

Company release, February 16, 2005

New Delhi

ING Vysya Life has announced its performance for the calendar year 2004. The Managing Director and CEO of ING Vysya Life Mr. Frank Koster made a presentation of the company’s results in calendar year 2004 in Delhi. Speaking of the company’s performance in Jan – Dec 2004, Mr. Koster said “We are growing at a faster rate than we did last year and that too in a rapidly growing category (private sector life insurance). We have more than tripled our premium income in 2004. We are still expanding our distribution infrastructure, product portfolio and reach and are confident that the growth momentum will continue. We are looking forward to doubling our business through the year 2005 too”. Since Mr. Koster took over as the MD & CEO of ING Vysya Life in April 2004 he has focused on building distribution capability to handle the challenge of explosive growth. “We have put in place a structure to manage distribution expansion both geographically and through all the different channels with a full suite of products. I am fully aware that “our insurance advisors” make this business happen and our focus will be on managing, motivating and empowering our agency force”.

Mr. Koster also spoke of ING’s continuing commitment to building the business in India “ING has fully committed to building the life insurance business in India. In fact India may be the fastest growing ING Greenfield insurance company in 2005. ING would like to increase its stake in the company beyond 26% as and when regulations allow.“

On the outlook for 2005 Mr. Koster said “We are confident of achieving a strong growth performance in 2005 too. This will be achieved through: Geographical expansion (to about 50 cities), Strengthening and expanding the tied agency distribution, Building the distribution through the ING Vysya Bank network, Expanding our reach through alternate distribution channels e.g other bank tieups, corporate agents, etc.

ING Vysya Life is targeting an income of over Rs. 300 crore and a customer base of over 2,50,000 in calendar year 2005.

Key Highlights:

New Business

Annualised new premium increased by 280% to Rs. 126 crore from Rs. 45 crore in the previous year. The number of individual new policies sold was 123,202 up 222% from 55,372 the year before. New business growth was driven by the expansion in branch network (63 branches in 30 cities as on date), insurance advisors (10,345 insurance advisors) and introduction of new products (the unit linked products - Freedom Plan and Future Perfect plan).

Total Business

The total premium income increased by 312% to Rs. 151 crore from Rs. 48 crore in the previous year. The total Sum assured by the company is Rs. 2,804 crore, an increase of 215% over Rs. 1303 crore last year. The total income of the company (including investment income) was Rs. 167 crore in the year ended 31st December 2004. This is a growth of 292% over the previous year’s Rs. 57 crore. The company has 1,58,789 individual life policies in force on 31st December 2004.

Capital

The shareholder’s equity increased by Rs. 90 crore from Rs. 200 crore at the end of last year to Rs. 290 crore at the end of the current year in line with the increase in new business and expansion of distribution network.

Distribution Network

During the year ING Vysya Life expanded its tied agency distribution reach to 30 cities (from 20 cities last year) and 63 branches. The cities in which ING Vysya Life has a presence through its insurance advisors are Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Chennai, Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Vizag, Vijaywada, Mangalore, Mysore, Pune, Nagpur, Cochin, Coimbatore, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Guntur, Hubli, Trivandrum, Gurgaon, Goa, Bhopal, Indore, Baroda, Surat, Quilon. The total number of insurance advisors has grown to 10,300 from about 6,200 last year.

Individual Life Product Portfolio

The product portfolio of ING Vysya Life Insurance has grown to a total of 12 individual life products and 4 individual life riders. The major new product initiative last year was ING Vysya Life’s twin product offering in the unit-linked segment the Freedom plan and the Future Perfect plan. The products have been well accepted by the customers.

Outlook for 2005

The growth momentum will be sustained in 2005 with a 100% growth over 2004 to Rs. 300 crore of income and 2,50,000 policies in force at the end of this year. The distribution network will expand to 50 cities (85 branches) and a tied agency sales force of 12,000 insurance advisors.

About ING Vysya Life Insurance

ING Vysya Life Insurance Company Private Limited entered the private life insurance industry in India in September 2001, and in a short span of 3 and a half years has established itself as a distinctive life insurance brand with an innovative, attractive and customer friendly product portfolio and a professional advisor force. It also distributes products in close cooperation with the ING Vysya Bank network. Currently, it has over 10,000 advisors in 30 cities across the country and over 1,000 employees.

ING Vysya Life Insurance Company is headquartered at Bangalore and has established a national presence in the following cities: Delhi, Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Jaipur and Gurgaon in the North; Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat, Indore and Bhopal in the West; Kolkata in the East; Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Vizag, Vijaywada, Mangalore, Mysore, Cochin, Coimbatore, Guntur, Hubli, Belgaum and Trivandrum in the South.

The company has over 1,50,000 customers as on date and achieved an income of Rs. 150 crore in the year ending 31st December, 2004

ING Vysya Life Insurance is a joint venture between ING Insurance International BV a part of ING Group, the world’s second largest life insurance company (Fortune Global 500, 2004), ING Vysya Bank, with 2 million customers and over 400 outlets and GMR Industries Limited, part of GMR Group also based in Bangalore and involved in the field of power generation, infrastructure development and several other businesses.

About ING Vysya

ING Vysya has 3 businesses in India, ING Vysya Life Insurance, ING Vysya Bank and ING Vysya Mutual Fund. ING Vysya Bank is a premier private sector bank with a 70-year heritage and 2 million satisfied customers. ING Vysya Mutual Fund is a mid sized asset management company with a retail investor focus.

About ING

ING is a global financial institution of Dutch origin offering banking, insurance and asset management to over 60 million private, corporate and institutional clients in 50 countries. With a diverse workforce of over 112,000 people, ING comprises a broad spectrum of prominent companies that increasingly serve their clients under the ING brand.

For press inquiries:

ING Vysya Life

Gautam Sharma, 080 2532 8000, gautam.sharma@ingvysyalife.com

Hanmer & Partners

Luna/ Prerana, Hanmer PR, 2921 4793, luna@hanmerpr.com