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New Delhi, Dec. 10: Metlife Insurance plans to break out of its South India and go national — in the process doubling both its distribution network and annual premium collection by next year.

“The objective is to make our presence felt across India. For this, we will essentially follow a two-pronged strategy. We will double our strength of financial advisors and be aggressive about bancassurance business,” said Rajesh Relan, managing director of Metlife India.

At the moment, the insurance company has 11,500 financial advisors operating out of 44 branches in 32 cities. It has also recently entered into a bancassurance tieup with UTI Bank, which has 474 branches across more than 200 cities.

The other three existing bancassurance partners of Metlife India include the Jammu & Kashmir Bank, Karnataka Bank and Dhanalakshmi Bank. Relan said a tieup with UTI Bank would help the company achieve larger volumes and equitable sales from its distribution channels.

“The target is to have our sales coming in equal proportion from both financial advisors and bancassurance tieups,” said Relan. At present, 38 per cent of the company’s total sales comes through bancassurance.

Metlife, which is likely to close this year with a premium income of Rs 240 crore, targets to attain annual premium of Rs 500 crore in the next year. The company, which has a paid-up capital of Rs 335 crore, is also looking at infusing fresh capital next year.

“We are firming up our plans, which will be in line with our growth plans. However, the board will take the final decision,” said Relan.

The company, striving hard to transform its image from a regional to a national player, has chalked out plans to increase its presence across Tier II and Tier III cities.

Metlife has a 70:30 break-up between its unit linked insurance plan (Ulip) and traditional products.

Unlike most insurance companies that are shifting their kitty completely towards Ulips, Relan said “the intention is to find a right balance and address all customer segments depending on their risk profiles. Hence, insurers should not necessarily loose the balance in their product kitty.”

Metlife India Insurance is the Indian arm of Metlife Inc. The company was incorporated as a joint venture between Metlife International Holdings, the Jammu and Kashmir Bank, M Pallonji and Company and other private investors.