Calcutta, Dec. 13: SBI Life Insurance is planning to improve its processing system to lower the time required to process policies and settle claims in order to grow its business 20-25 per cent per annum in the next three to four years.

'At SBI Life Insurance, technology is a key business driver besides human resources. We are planning to implement a policy management system by October next year. The objective is to improve the processing period of policies and lower the claim settlement time. Such a system not only mitigates risk but also improves security and efficiency,' said Arijit Basu, managing director and CEO of SBI Life Insurance.

Basu said SBI Life Insurance is looking to overhaul the back-end technology, which was brought in by its foreign partner Cardif.

SBI Life is a 74:26 joint venture between the State Bank of India and BNP Paribas Cardif.

'At present, we have a legacy system from Cardif. But the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) has made several regulatory changes, which has necessitated the change in the system,' Basu said. The time required for processing a policy range between three and four days and claims settlement takes around one to two days.

Basu said once the back-end technology was strengthened, it would help lower the processing period by at least a day.

He added that the life insurer was looking to strengthen its online business, where at present it was generating around Rs 12-15 crore business every year. 'We are now offering a pure term insurance online. There is a scope to expand this segment in the future,' Basu said.

The company is also looking to expand its proportion of business from unit-linked products from 37-38 per cent at the end of March to around 40-45 per cent at the end of the current financial year as improving market sentiments has generated demand for such products, he said.

'This year we are looking to grow our new business premium by around 20 per cent to around Rs 6,600 crore,' Basu said.

The insurer has received an approval from the IRDA for three new products, including a non-market-linked child plan.

'On the product front we are now present in most of the segments,' Basu added.