Tata AIG plans to introduce mobile technology into the enrollment and claims processing for its livestock insurance product, which provides cover in case of death of the cattle due to accident, disease, fire or flood. Tata AIG expects the use of mobile technology to reduce transaction costs, processing time, and improve service to clients. 

The technology will be tested with new clients in districts with high cattle volume in the state of Gujarat, and districts that are remote and difficult to access in the state of Uttarakhand.

In the new enrollment process, details and photographs of the enrolled animals and information on beneficiaries will be captured on a mobile phone and relayed directly to a central server for “instant” enrollment and policy issuance. It currently takes 10 to 15 days to enroll clients and issue policies.

Similarly, for claims settlement, photographs of the animal with the ear tag containing the relevant details will be transmitted on the phone instead of the current transfer of physical documents.  This process change is expected to reduce claim settlement time, costs and fraud. As a result, money can be provided to farmers when they need it the most, thus enhancing client value of the product.

Among the key challenges expected in the project are:

• As the mobile phone enabled processes depend on the cellular phone network, periodic unavailability of network could disrupt service in remote areas.
• It could be difficult to gain acceptance of technology amongst various stakeholders like local veterinary doctors, since it will change existing processes.