TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. OBJECTIVES
2. THEORY AND CONCEPT
3. COMPANY PROFILE
I.
COMPANY
II. VISION
III. PROMOTERS
IV. PRODUCT
V. DISTRIBUTION
4. STRUCTURE OF THE SALES FUNCTION
5. IT INTEGRATION
6. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
a. PROBLEM&RESEARCH OBJECTIVE
b. RESEARCH PLAN
c. DATA COLLECTION
7. ANAYLISIS
8. FINDING
9. PORTER FIVE COMPETITIVE FORCES
10. SWOT ANAYSIS
11. BCG MATRIX
12. RECOMMENDATION AND SUGGESTIONS
13. BIBLIOGRAPHY

5
6
7
7
8
10
12
18
19
23
32
32
33
33
39
52
54
57
61
63
65

OBJECTIVES
Financial market is one of the markets where there is lots of option for
the Company, because this market is at the starting point or at the
initial stage. ICICI prudential is a part of these financial markets who
is selling the insurance as well as the mutual fund. The financial
market mainly depend upon the investor who have the power of
money to invest into the market in the form of insurance or mutual
funds, and our objective was to find out investor who can be the future
client of the company, our project Synergy of High Net- Worth
Individuals (HNI) With their Distribution Channel ,which mainly
focus on finding out the investment behaviors of the HNI clients,
their mode of investment , and the people who can change their
financial decision, because most of the HNI client usually take the
Advice of the people who are close to them ,and has the knowledge
about the financial market.

THEORY AND CONCEPT

Financial market is one of the market, which had started to grow a few
years ago, and with boom in this sector many private company came
into existence, and ICICI prudential is one of them. The Financial
market is mainly depend on the people who had enough money to
invest, to get a good return out of it and our project aim was to find
out those prospect who can invest heavily on the financial market and
the source through which we can reach them, such as: Bankers.
Chartered Accountant.
Investment Consultant
It is general known that most of the heavy investor usually consults
their bankers, chartered accountant or their Investment Consultant
before taking any decision while investing, because they are the
people who are generally close to them and know them very well, so
our project was to find out, who are the people who can change their

decision to ICICI Prudential favour .Most of HNI are usually depend

upon their CA, because he is the person who control the financial
detail of his client and his decision are generally consider as one of
the most valuable decision . So our main aim of the project was to
find out the various details such as: Chartered Accountants name
Chartered Accountant, Detail.
Clients Advisor
Bank Name

COMPANY PROFILE
About ICICI Prudential:ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company is a joint venture between
ICICI Bank, a premier financial powerhouse and prudential plc, a
leading international financial services group headquartered in the
United Kingdom. ICICI Prudential was amongst the first private
sector insurance companies to begin operations in December 2000
after receiving approval from Insurance Regulatory Development
Authority (IRDA).
ICICI Prudential's equity base stands at Rs. 9.25 billion with ICICI
Bank and Prudential plc holding 74% and 26% stake respectively. In

the financial year ended March 31, 2005, the company garnered Rs
1584 Crore of new business premium for a total sum assured of Rs
13,780 Crore and wrote nearly 615,000 policies. The company has a
network of about 56,000 advisors; as well as 7 Bancassurance and 150
corporate agent tie-ups. For the past four years, ICICI Prudential has
retained its position as the No. 1 private life insurer in the country,
with a wide range of flexible products that meet the needs of the
Indian customer at every step in life.

ICICI Prudential Life is all about

Hea
lt

Total
Protection

alth
We

We cover you at
every step in Life
Life

VISION
To make ICICI Prudential the dominant Life and Pensions player built
on trust by world-class people and service.

This is what company hopes to achieve:

Understanding the needs of customers and offering them
superior products and service
Leveraging technology to service customers quickly,
efficiently and conveniently.
Developing and implementing superior risk management
and investment strategies to offer sustainable and stable
returns to Companys policyholders
Providing an enabling environment to foster growth and
learning for Companies employees
And above all, building transparency in all Companys
dealings.
The success of the company will be founded in its unflinching
commitment to 5 core values -- Integrity, Customer First, Boundary
less, Ownership and Passion. Each of the values describes what the
company stands for, the qualities of people and the way they work.
Company believes that it is on the threshold of an exciting new
opportunity, where it can play a significant role in redefining and

reshaping the sector. Given the quality of parentage and the

commitment of its team, there are no limits to its growth.
PROMOTERS
ICICI Bank:ICICI was founded by the World Bank, Government of India and
representatives of the private sector in 1955 to encourage and assist
industrial development and investment in India. ICICI Bank is Indias
second-largest bank with total assets of about Rs.112, 024 Crore and a
network of about 450 branches and offices and about 1750 ATMs. It
offers a wide range of banking products and financial services to
corporate and retail customers through a variety of delivery channels
and through its specialized subsidiaries and affiliates in the areas of
investment banking, life and non-life insurance, venture capital, asset
management and information technology. ICICI Bank posted a net
profit of Rs.1637 Crore for the year ended March 31, 2004. ICICI
Banks equity shares are listed in India on stock exchanges at
Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata and Vadodara, the Stock Exchange, Mumbai
and the National Stock Exchange of India Limited and its American

Depositary Receipts (ADRs) are listed on the New York Stock

Exchange (NYSE).The Various segment of ICICI are .

Prudential plc:Established in London in 1848, Prudential plc, through its businesses

in the UK and Europe, the US and Asia, provides retail financial
services products and services to more than 16 million customers,
policyholder and unit holders worldwide. As of June 30, 2004, the
company had over US$300 billion in funds under management.
Prudential has brought to market an integrated range of financial
services products that now includes life assurance, pensions, mutual
funds, banking, investment management and general insurance. In
Asia, Prudential is the leading European life insurance company with
a vast network of 24 life and mutual fund operations in twelve

countries - China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea,

Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.
The company has six Bancassurance tie-ups, having agreements with
ICICI Bank, Federal Bank, South Indian Bank, Bank of India, Lord
Krishna Bank and some co-operative banks, as well as over 150
corporate agents and brokers. It has also tied up with NGOs, MFIs and
corporates for the distribution of rural policies and organizations like
Dhan for distribution of Salaam Zindagi, a policy for the socially and
economically underprivileged sections of society.
ICICI Prudential has recruited and trained about 2,14,000 insurance
advisors to interface with and advise customers. Further, it leverages
its state-of-the-art IT infrastructure to provide superior quality of
service to customers.

But the value of Life Insurance...

Value of benefit

life cover

Insurance
Stock market
Bond

Death

Maturity

Time Period

Products
Insurance Solutions
ICICI Prudential Life Insurance offers a range of innovative,
customer-centric products that meet the needs of customers at every
life stage. Its 27 products can be enhanced with up to 6 riders, to
create a customized solution for each policyholder.

Savings Solutions:

SecurePlus is a transparent and feature-packed savings plan that

offers 3 levels of protection.

Cash Plus is a transparent, feature-packed savings plan that

offers 3 levels of protection as well as liquidity options.

Save?n?Protect is a traditional endowment savings plan that

offers life protection along with adequate returns.

CashBak is an anticipated endowment policy ideal for meeting

milestone expenses like a childs marriage, expenses for a
childs higher education or purchase of an asset.

LifeTime & LifeTime II offer customers the flexibility and

control to customize the policy to meet the changing needs at
different life stages. Each offer 4 fund options- Preserver,
Protector, Balancer and Maximiser.

LifeLink II is a single premium Market Linked Insurance Plan

which combines life insurance cover with the opportunity to
stay invested in the stock market.

Premier Life is a limited premium paying plan that offers

customers life insurance cover till the age of 75.

InvestShield Life is a Market Linked plan that provides capital

guarantee on the invested premiums and declared bonus
interest.

InvestShield Cash is a Market Linked plan that provides capital

guarantee on the invested premiums and declared bonus interest
along with flexible liquidity options.

InvestShield Gold is a Market Linked plan that provides capital

guarantee on the invested premiums and declared bonus interest
along with limited premium payment terms.

Protection Solutions

Lifeguard is a protection plan, which offers life cover at very

low cost. It is available in 3 options- level term assurance, level
term assurance with return of premium and single premium.

Child Plans

SmartKid education plans provide guaranteed educational

benefits to a child along with life insurance cover for the parent
who purchases the policy. The policy is designed to provide
money at important milestones in the childs life. SmartKid

plans are also available in unit-linked form- both single

premium and regular premium.
Retirement Solutions

Forever Life is a retirement product targeted at individuals in

their thirties.

SecurePlus Pension is a flexible pension plan that allows one to

select between 3 levels of cover.

Market-linked retirement products

LifeTime Pension II is a regular premium market-linked

pension plan

Life Link Pension II is a single premium market-linked pension

plan.

Invest Shield Pension is a regular premium pension plan with a

capital guarantee on the investible premium and declared
bonuses.

ICICI Prudential also launched- Salaam Zindagi, a social sector group

insurance policy targeted at the economically underprivileged sections
of the society.

Group Insurance Solutions

ICICI Prudential also offers Group Insurance Solutions for companies
seeking to enhance benefits to their employees.

ICICI Pru Group Gratuity Plan: ICICI Prus group gratuity

plan helps employers fund their statutory gratuity obligation in
a scientific manner. The plan can also be customized to
structure schemes that can provide benefits beyond the statutory
obligations.

ICICI Pru Group Superannuation Plan: ICICI Pru offers a

flexible defined contribution superannuation scheme to provide
a retirement kitty for each member of the group. Employees
have the option of choosing from various annuity options or
opting for a partial commutation of the annuity at the time of
retirement.

ICICI Pru Group Term Plan: ICICI Pru?S flexible group

term solution helps provide affordable cover to members of a
group.

The

cover

could

be

uniform

or

based

on

designation/rank or a multiple of salary. The benefit under the

policy is paid to the beneficiary nominated by the member on

his/her death.
Flexible Rider Options
ICICI Pru Life offers flexible riders, which can be added to the basic
policy at a marginal cost, depending on the specific needs of the
customer.

Accident & disability benefit: If death occurs as the result of

an accident during the term of the policy, the beneficiary
receives an additional amount equal to the sum assured under
the policy. If the death occurs while traveling in an authorized
mass transport vehicle, the beneficiary will be entitled to twice
the sum assured as additional benefit.

Accident Benefit: This rider option pays the sum assured under
the rider on death due to accident.

Critical Illness Benefit: protects the insured against financial

loss in the event of 9 specified critical illnesses. Benefits are
payable to the insured for medical expenses prior to death.

Major Surgical Assistance Benefit: provides financial support

in the event of medical emergencies, ensuring benefits are
payable to the life assured for medical expenses incurred for
surgical procedures. Cover is offered against 43 surgical
procedures.

Income Benefit: This rider pays the 10% of the sum assured to
the nominee every year, till maturity, in the event of the death
of the life assured. It is available on SmartKid, SecurePlus and
Cash Plus

Waiver of Premium: In case of total and permanent disability

due to an accident, the premiums are waived till maturity. This
rider is available with SecurePlus and Cash Plus.

Keyman Insurance Plans

A keyman is an individual who directly affects the profitability and
the continuity of a business and whose absence may have an
adverse effect on the health and continuity of the business.
Keyman insurance is a life insurance policy taken by the company
on the life of such a key person.

The objective of the Keyman insurance is to provide the company

with money so that the financial losses to the company can be
protected, in absence of the Keyman. The aim is to indemnify the
company of these losses and to allow business continuity.
All premiums paid for securing a Keyman life insurance policy are
treated as business expenditure u/s 37 (1).

Mutual Funds
A Mutual Fund is a trust that pools the savings of a number of
investors who share a common financial goal. The money thus
collected is then invested in capital market instruments such as shares,
debentures and other securities. The income earned through these
investments and the capital appreciations realized are shared by its
unit holders in proportion to the number of units owned by them.
DISTRIBUTION
ICICI Prudential has one of the largest distribution networks amongst
private life insurers in India, having commenced operations in 74
cities and towns in India. These are: Agra, Ahmedabad, Ajmer,
Allahabad, Amritsar, Anand, Aurangabad, Bangalore, Bareilly,

Bharuch, Bhatinda, Bhopal, Bhubhaneshwar, Calicut, Chandigarh,

Chennai, Coimbatore, Dehradun, Durgapur, Faridabad, Goa, Guntur,
Guwhati, Gurgaon, Gwalior, Hyderabad, Hubli, Indore, Jaipur,
Jalandhar, Jamnagar, Jamshedpur, Jodhpur, Kanpur, Karnal, Kochi,
Kolkata, Kolhapur, Kota, Kottayam, Kozhikode, Lucknow, Ludhiana,
Madurai, Mangalore, Meerut, Mehsana, Mumbai, Mysore, Nagpur,
Nasik, Noida, New Delhi, Patiala, Pune, Raipur, Rajkot, Ranchi,
Rourkela, Saharanpur, Salem.

STRUCTURE OF THE SALES FUNCTION

ICICI Prudentials sales function is divided into two functional
structures within the organization. These two Structures are:

Bancassurance & Alliances

Tied Agency

Both types of structures are described as follows:

Bancassurance & Alliances-

ICICI Prudential was a pioneer in offering life insurance solutions

through banks and alliances. Within a short span of two years, and
with nearly a large number of partners, B & A has emerged as a vital
component of the companys sales and distribution strategy,
contributing to approximately one third of companys total business.

The business philosophy at B&A is to leverage distribution synergies

with there partners and add value to its customers as well as the
partners. Flexibility, adaptation and experimenting with new ideas are
the hallmarks of this channel. The business philosophy at B&A is to
leverage distribution synergies with its partners and add value to the
business of both. Bancassurance Team includes:
Banks
ICICI Bank
Federal Bank
South Indian Bank
Bank of India
Lord Krishna Bank
Some co-operative banks

Corporate Agents

Bajaj Capital
India Infoline
Way 2 Wealth
Advanced Financial Services (Karvy)
Blue Chip
AHS
APS
Strategic Marketing Pvt. Ltd.
S M Insurance
Investment Managers
Emgee Muthoot Insurance
The hierarchy structure of the ICICI Prudential Life Insurance
Ltd. is as follows:

o Branch Sales Manager (BSM)/ Center Sales Manager

o Sales Manager(SM)
o Assistant Sales Manager (ASM)
o Team Leader (TL)
o Financial Service Consultant (FSC)

Tied Agency: -

Tied Agency is the largest distribution channel of ICICI Prudential,

comprising a large advisor force that targets various customer
segments. The strength of tied agency lies in an aggressive strategy of
expanding and procuring quality business. With focus on sales &
people development, tied agency has emerged as a robust, predictable
and sustainable business model.
Generally this advisors works under the leadership of unit manager,
who motivate them in every step by providing training and guidance
to them, usually each unit manager have 20 to 30 advisors under them.
o Branch Sales Manager (BSM)/ Center Sales Manager
o Sales Manager(SM)
o Assistant Sales Manager (ASM)
o Unit Manager (UM)

IT INTEGRATION
The Information Technology function at ICICI Prudential is
committed to enable business through the use of technology. It is

segmented into 4 groups to enable highest levels of delivery to the

customers: Life Asia Solutions Group that provides flexibility in
designing better product offerings to end-users, the Solutions GroupWeb that provides real-time information to customers and is
responsible for customer relationship management, IT Architecture &
Corporate Solutions Group is in charge of developing and maintaining
a blueprint for the IT architecture for the enterprise as a whole. This
team works as an in house R&D Solution Group, exploring new
technological initiatives and also caters to information needs of
corporate functions in the organization. IT Infrastructure group is
responsible for providing hardware, software, network services to the
whole organization. This group runs the 'Digital Nervous System' of
the Enterprise at the highest levels of efficiency and provide robust,
scalable and highly available platform for deployment of business
application.
The IT function is divided into two functional units and two staff
units.
Functional Units
1.

Systems Delivery

2.

Operations & Infrastructure

Staff Units
1.

IT Quality

2.

IT Architecture and strategy

Systems Delivery focuses on Business Analysis of processes and

generation of business requirements in conjunction with the users, all
activities within the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) starting with Business Requirements Analysis and ending with
Implementation of a system that meets the requirement. These include
vendor and platform evaluation and selection, system design,
acceptance testing (Pre - UAT), and post implementation support.
The systems delivery unit is aligned with the business organization
by forming three vertical units:
1.

Core Insurance Systems

2.

Distribution and Access Channel Systems

3.

Corporate Systems

IT Operations focuses on operating the applications at the agreed

level, as per user requirements. This include running end of period
batch jobs, executing downloads & uploads, executing report runs and
batch queries, taking backups, maintaining tape libraries and
executing review activities like security reviews etc.
IT Infrastructure focuses on procuring, providing and maintaining
the necessary hardware, Local network, branch network, e-mail
network and internet access facilities in order to enable optimum
automation across HO and all branches. This unit also provides local
helpdesks at all required points.
IT Quality focuses on improving SDLC and operations processes,
defining

benchmarks

compliance

and

for

publishing

both,

collecting

dashboards.

It

metrics,
conducts

reporting
process

compliance reviews and in addition is responsible for framing the

Information security policies.
IT Architecture and Strategy evaluates existing architecture and
strategies, and evolves the architecture that helps company maintain
technical edge over competitors for the oncoming years. It is also

evaluating new products, trends and strategies and conduct research

into their applicability in Companys domain.

The Capability Maturity Model for Software (CMM) is a framework

that describes the key elements of an effective software process. The
CMM describes an evolutionary improvement path from an adhoc.Immature process to a mature disciplined process.
The CMM covers practices for planning, engineering, and managing

software development and maintenance. When followed, these keys

practices improve the ability of organizations to meet goals for cost,
schedule, functionality, and product quality.
The CMM establishes a yardstick against which it is possible to
judge, in a repeatable way, the maturity of an organization's software
process and compare it to the state of the practices of the industry. The
CMM can also be used by an organization to plan improvements to its
software process.
The CMM has 5 Levels, 18 Key Process Areas (KPA's), 316 Key
Practices and 52 Goals.
ICICI Prudential have opted the CMM
To Meet Customer/Market needs.
To have Best Practices.
To look for higher maturity by ensuring repeatability.
Usage of Statistical results on Processes for Continuous
Improvement.
A diagnostic tool to look into organization's strength and
weaknesses.

The processes in the IT department are scaled to meet all KPA's

from CMM level 3
A Software Engineering Process Group (SEPG) is a team of software
professionals with the responsibility of driving and facilitating
software process improvement efforts within an organization.

Formation of SEPG (Software Engineering Process Group)

A management representative is the chairperson of the SEPG.
SEPG chairperson ensures that a core of Professionals representing all
the technical groups of all verticals and functional groups of the
organization form SEPG.
Members of SEPG are given either full time or part time
responsibility for SEPG activities like defining process, transitioning
technology and tools into the
organization, piloting the process / technology improvements and
deploying the process / technology improvements.
SEPG chairperson identifies the persons to carry out the tasks
of SEPG
SEPG chairperson reviews the SEPG activities on a quarterly
basis (or depending on the business needs) and he/she identifies

the roles and responsibilities for the SEPG members on a

rotational basis.
SEPG members are trained to perform statistical process control
and analysis, technology transition, management activities, tool
evaluation techniques and causal analysis.
SEPG should consist of 6-8 members.
Responsibilities of SEPG
Define organizational goals and measurement plans for
software process performance in discussion with the Project
Steering Committee.
Develop and implement software process at the organizational
level.
Co-ordinate process / technology improvement activities at the
organizational level.
Ensure members of the software team and other related groups
receive orientation on the organizations software process
activities.
Internal process assessment.
Maintain the organizations software process assets.

 Explore potential areas for applying new technology.

Identify, select and evaluate new technologies.
Incorporate

Effective

process

technologies

into

the

organization based on the organizations business plan and

goals.
Review SEPG Activities
Review and approve Software Process Improvement Plan
ICICI Pru has defined 15 processes that cover the entire Software
Development Life Cycle (SDLC) of a software project. Each process
has artifacts associated to facilitate data collection during various
stages,

track

changes

and

monitor

the

progress

of

the

project/enhancement.

The processes are as follows.

Management Responsibility
Defines the management's accountabilities, responsibilities, and
commitment towards continuous support for the software quality
system and process improvement.
Software Quality System

Defines the way the software quality system is structured and provides
guidelines to make any changes to the same.

Requirements Management
Outlines the activities involved in gathering, analyzing, reviewing and
approval of requirements. Manages changes to requirements and
project initiation activities.
Estimation
Outlines the estimation methods to be followed and managing
changes to estimates.
Project Planning and Tracking
Describes the activities involved during the planning stage of a
project, provides means to monitor and control the progress of the
project.
Software Subcontract Management
Outlines defining the work to be subcontracted, agreement on
commitments with the subcontractor, planning; tracking and QA of
the subcontracted work.
Reviews

Describes the steps involved in carrying a review activity and

documenting the findings of the review.

Design and Coding

Outlines the steps involved in translating the software components
identified in the design document into software units that can be
coded compiled and tested.
Testing
Outlines the steps involved in Planning and carrying out Testing of
the software components.
Software Quality Assurance
Outlines the activities carried out by the SQA
Software Configuration Management
Outlines the process involved in preparing the Configuration
management plan, identifying and base lining the configurable items,
steps involved in releasing the tested software.
Enhancement and Post Production

Outlines the processes to be followed for activities related to minor,

medium and production related issues.
Process Improvement
Outlines the activities to be carried out for Software Quality System
Improvements.

Measurements
Describes the measurements to be collected at various stages of the
project and the analysis to be done.
Post Project Evaluation
Mentions the activities involved in evaluating the performance of the
project after its completion.

SIX SIGMA IMPLEMENTATION BY ICICI PRUDENTIAL.

ICICI Prudential is one of a handful of companies in the service
industry, which had the mettle to take up the six-sigma initiative. It's
quite some time now since ICICI Prudential took up this quality
initiative and since then they have grown beyond expectations. As
another step towards becoming a world-class service Organisation,
ICICI Prudential have blended quality in the form of six sigma into all

their processes and systems. And that gave birth to a hybrid "Business
Excellence" team with the people making processes and ensuring
quality coming together to cut down cost and process
inefficiencies.Some of the figure of the sigma level are :

Expense Processing MIS:-

Policy Issuance Sigma Level:Policy Issuance - Sigma Levels

Cat A
J ET (Login to Customer
Received)

Cat B

J ET (Cheque Date to
Customer Received)

MEDICAL (Medical Test

to Customer Received)

J un-05

May-05

Apr-05

3.19

3.04

2.97

3.28

3.22

3.01

Norms
Blue Dart
Non Blue Dart

Days
8
9

Blue Dart

Non Blue Dart

10

Blue Dart

11

Non Blue Dart

12

Cat A

2.93

2.78

2.75

Blue Dart

13

Cat B

3.14

3.04

2.90

Non Blue Dart

14

Cat A

2.95

2.59

2.57

Blue Dart
Non Blue Dart

11
12

Cat B

3.11

2.89

2.83

Blue Dart
Non Blue Dart

13
14

Policy Issuance Sigma Level HNI

Policy Issuance - Sigma Levels

J ET (Cheque Date to
Customer Received)

MEDICAL (Medical Test

to Customer Received)

Cat A

J un-05

May-05

Apr-05

2.96

2.71

2.49

Norms
Blue Dart

Days
11

Non Blue Dart

12

Blue Dart

13
14

Cat B

3.15

3.07

2.76

Non Blue Dart

Cat A

2.86

2.64

2.34

Blue Dart
Non Blue Dart

11
12

Cat B

3.21

2.89

2.60

Blue Dart
Non Blue Dart

13
14

Accuracy MIS
1. Accuracy MIS presents the number of error caught at various
stages of policy issuance
2. Branch Discrepancy: Any error caught in the application form
or underwriting sheet before data entry at COPS.
3. Call Back Error: All errors identified at post issuance call
back stage.
4. Correction Complaints: All complaints received for errors on
contract
details
5. Opportunities: All contracts issued in previous month

Accuracy MIS
Stage

Error Type

Opportu- Business Data Data

Errors nities
Ratio Capture Entry

Underwriting

Branch Discrepancy

786

35032

2.24%

175

222

389

Call Back Error

620

31219

1.99%

207

395

18

Correction Complaints

225

24617

0.91%

24

201

406
25%

818
50%

407
25%

Total Errors
Error %

1631

Data Capture: Error done while filling application form

Data Entry Error: Error done while doing data entry at
COPS
Underwriting Error : Error done by underwriters

Service Overall

Service Sigma
6

Sigma Level

5
4
3

3.48

3.52

3.49

2.9

2.79

2.54

2
1
0

Apr 05

May 05
Complaint

Category
Complaints
Requests

Request

J un 05
Target

Business Ratio
Apr 05
May 05
J un 05
0.65%
0.59%
0.58%
4.13%
2.84%
2.95%

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research is one of the most important parts in the survey to collect

information and knowledge. Marketing research is defined as the
systematic design, collection, analysis, and reporting of data and
findings relevant to a specific marketing situation facing the company.

Problem and Research Objective

Our main objective was to find out the top HNIs (High net worth
income) group and their various mode of investment. The main
problem was how to find out the top twenty HNI clients from the
bunch of people without knowing them in detail.
To get all this information a thorough planning had to be done, so I
first started with designing the questionnaire for the clients whom I
was going to target and to know about their investment pattern. The
main things to be known from the clients were:

1. There Annual turnover

2. Who are there bankers
3. There chartered accountant
4. Who influence there investment decision
5. What is there annual investment

Research plan
The research process depends upon developing the most efficient plan
for gathering the needed information. Designing a research plan calls
for decisions on the

data sources, research approaches, research

instruments, sampling plan, and contact methods.

Our objective was to find the Synergy of HNIs with there
Distribution Channel.
This objective had made our project too narrow because from now
onward our task was to find the top industries and person who can
invest above 1 crores and more then that. So from now onwards I
started to target only to a special segment of the people.
Data source
For this project both primary and secondary data were the most
valuable source of information.
Secondary data:Secondary data provide a starting point for research and offer the
valuable source of information.
The secondary data was the most important source for my project
because my first aim was to find out the top five person or industries
from every segment of the industries so for this reason I started

collecting the various directory which can help me in finding out the
desired information about the industries and people.
The various directories are as follows: Telephone Directory.
Income Tax office.
City directory.
Chartered Accountant Directory.
Carpet Industries Directory.
Hotel Industries Directory.
HDFC Banks.
Indian medical association directory.
Transporter directory.
Exporter Directory.
Lawyers Directory.
Builders & Constructors Directories
CNF

Primary data:-

Primary data are data freshly gathered for a specific purpose. The
various sources of primary data for my project are as follows.
Banks.
Local residents.
People from industries
Research Approaches:From the two data source which I have mention above secondary data
are the easiest way to gather and the cost of collecting this data is very
low and easily available from the respective association. And I started
by collecting this directory from the various sources, because at the
starting point of the survey this information play a important part for
me and this help me to short out the people which, I can meet with
them to collected more information about them or who are my target
people.
After collecting the secondary data or information from the secondary
sources then I started collecting from primary sources to narrow down
my research. There are basically five ways to collect data.
Survey Research: - This method was the most
appropriate way to collect data. And I have used this
method in my project to find out the company need

by identifying the suitable prospect in the city who

can become the ICICI pru client.
Observational Research:- This method was not
used by me in my project ,because this survey have
no use for me
Focus-group Research: - This method is also not
used by me in my survey.
Behavioral data:-This method was also not used by
me in my survey.
Research Instruments:There is various way of research instrument of collecting primary
data, the various methods are:1. Questionnaires.
2. Psychological tools.
3. Mechanical Devices.
4. Qualitative Measures.
From the above mentioned research instruments I had used only
Questionnaires technique to find out the various information about the
clients such as their turnover, chartered accountant, investment
behaviors, who is their financial consultant etc. And this was the

technique which I felt the best way to extract information about the
client
Sampling Plans
After collecting entire data and deciding on the research approach and
instruments, now I had to decide on the sampling plan which was one
of the important task, because from the bunch of people I had to select
only those people ,whom I can target from now onward .There are
three way of sorting the data.
o Sampling Unit: - who is to be surveyed? And now
my task was to define the target population, which
will be sampled from the number of people.
o Sample Size: - large sample give more reliable
result than small sample, so for this reason I had
taken around 40 people to whom I should focus
upon, because my target was only 20 clients.
Contact Methods:Once the client had been decided now my task was how to contact
them ,and for me there only two ways of contacting them .

1. Personal Interview: - this method was the most

appropriate way of survey, because by personal
interview I came to know their feeling about the
ICICI. Their personal behavior and many more
things.
2. Telephone: - This method is also used by me for
once, because the client had no time for me, and
there was no other option for me.
Major Industries of the city:
Varanasi is usually considered as the land of Temple but it will be not
wrong, if we say that it is also the land of rich people. The Various
Industries of the city are: Sarees Industries.
Carpet Industries.
Oil Industries.
Hotel Industries.
Transport.
Textile Industries.

 Etc

ANALYSIS OF DATA CHART

Return clients are looking at:-

Return clients are looking at

10%

5%

40%
45%

Returns client are looking at

Less than 10%

B/W 10-15%
B/W 15-20%
Above 20%

From the Above Pie chart, it is clear that most of the client are looking
above 15% , this is because they are getting more return from their
earlier investment such as in the business and in real state, this shows
that they are willing to take more risk to get more return from their
investments
The second largest group is between 10% to 15%, this shows that
most of the businesses man wants to balance the risk and return of
their investment so that there is no big loss in the future.
Around 85% of the clients comes under this two category ,this shows
that most of the clients are ready to take risk for their investments.

Mutual Fund Preference Chart

From the below pie chart, preference of the clients for the various
mutual funds is depicted. In this Mutual Fund preference, HDFC
emerge as the winners closely followed by Prudential ICICI. This is
mainly because at present there is not much option for the client in the
city, and secondly ICICI prudential and reliance, have opened their
branches in the city recently. While some clients like to invest in other
mutual funds as well.

Mutual Fund Prefered

40%

40%

HDFC
Prudential ICICI
Mutual IPO

20%
Preference of Clients between Nationalized and Private Banks

Preference of Client

Nationalized Bank
Private Bank

From the above chart it is very clear that the nationalized banks are far
ahead in compare to private banks. There are many factors, which are
affecting the decision of the people.
1. Nationalized banks are operating for many years in the city and
the private banks had opened their branches, a few years an
ago.
2. Most of the nationalized banks employees are local residents
which plays an important role in customer relation.

3. The customer relationships of the nationalized banks are very

old and for this reason customers are not willing to change their
banks.
4. most of the clients wants a special attention to them while their
visit, and this is very well done by some of the nationalized
banks .while the private banks are unable to do this.
5. most of the private banks are using metro city style of behavior
while dealing with the clients and this behavior are not liked by
most of the people
6. Some of the private banks are charging more money for their
service, especially in preparing draft and other transaction.
While nationalized banks are not charging at all or very less in
compare to private banks.
7. There are more branches of the nationalized banks in compare
to private banks, which makes people more interested in the
nationalized banks.

Nationalized Banks
6% 11%

11%

6%

6%

60%

State Bank of
India
Bank of India
Union Bank of
india
Punjab National
Bank
Central Bank of
India
Allahabad Bank

From the above chart it is very clear that Union Bank of India is the
leading nationalized bank of the City. It has 60% share in the banking
segment. The factor which favor them are:
1. The service of the union bank is far better then any nationalized
banks in the city.
2. Union bank provide additional facilities to its HNI clients.
3. They have better relationship with their clients.
4. Union banks if India had more branches in the city ,which
makes their clients easy to reach to their branches.
PRIVATE BANKS CHART

Private Banks

50%

50%

ICICI Bank
HDFC Bank

PRIVATE BANKS: - the pie chart shows the preference of the client
for the various Private Banks. It is very clear from the chart that ICICI
Bank and HDFC are the two leading private banks of the city. This is
mainly because.
These two banks are the first private banks which has opened
their branches in the city.
ICICI and HDFC brands name, play an important part in their
success in the city because people usually go through the name
the company.

AGE BRAKET OF THE IINDUSTRIES

Age Braket
5%

60%

20%

15%

Less than 5 years

B/W 5-10 years
B/W 10-15 years
Above 15 years

From the Above Chart it is very clear that most of the industries
are very old.
Around 60% of the industries are more then 15 years old, this
shows that they have a strong financial backing.
They are very much stable in their fields or segment

11%

5%

Banker
Internal Advisors
Self Decision

84%

Form the above chart it is clear that most of the HNI relies on
their own decision, there are around 84% of the people who
wants to take their own financial decision because either they
do not wants to share their investment decision with other or
they thinks that they are more intelligent to take decision of
their own.
Secondly bankers are more prefer by the HNI, this is generally
because banker are the people who generally interact with them
and secondly HNI believe on their bankers because of the
relationship .

Bank FD
RBI Bond

20%

34%

5%
2%
22%

17%

Mutual Fund
Unit Linked
Plan/Insurance
Real Estate
Back into business

Preference investment Instrument

Business emerge to be the most preferred investment instrument
of the clients with maximum 34% of clients from all the clients
preferring this as their favorite investment option Because, it gives
more return then any other investment.
Bank FD emerges out to be the second most preferred
option for the clients to invest in the market. This is also
dependant on various reasons which are given as under:
o Easy loans available against the Bank Fixed Deposits.

o Clients can withdraw their money at almost anytime

giving them the option of maintaining Liquidity.
o With all this Bank FD also provides a decent return
concerned the minimum of the risk in any of the
available investment instruments.
o We have seen above in the analysis of nationalized vs.
private banks that nationalized banks are the more
preferred ones, this also adds weight to clients preferring
Bank FDs due to trust build during all these years.
Then, next preferred option for the clients is Unit link
plan/Insurance.

Tenure of FD prefered
25%

50%
17%
8%

Short Term (Less

than 2 years)
Medium Term (B/W
2-5 years)
Long Term ( More
than 5 years)
Not Known

we can see from the above chart that there are majority of clients
(from the clients who have disclosed this data) prefer the short term
fixed deposits as their favorite option. Most of the clients use the ideal
money which they have to meet the uncertainty or short term
requirement.

INSURANCE PARTNER PREFERENCE CHART

Insurance Partner Prefered

7%

13%

LIC
47%

33%

HDFC
ICICI Prudential
Oriental Insurance

This chart show the preference of the people who had invested in the
insurance sector, and from the chart it is very clear that LIC is the
leading company in this field, because of many factors such as:-.

 LIC is leading in this field mainly, because it is the first mover

in the insurance sector and had capture most of the market by
being first mover in this sector
LIC had a very good network of agents, and those are the back
bone of the company.
LIC had provided better service in the past which had made
trust in the mind of the people and for that reason they feel
more comfortable.
HDFC and ICICI Pru are the second in this field mainly
because they had opened their branches recently and slowly
they are capturing the market and in the future the ratio is
decrease, because there are many opportunity to cash in by
both the company .

FINDING
Most of the HNI client prefers the nationalized bank in
comparison to private banks.
The most common reason is that the public banks are operating for
many years and they have developed a good relationship with their
client and this is the reason why the HNI are not eager to move to the
private banks. Secondly, most of the clients want a special attention to
them while their visit and this is very well done by the public banks
(especially by the union banks of India,) because most of the
employee in the public banks are local residents and they have their
personal contact with them.
Telephone Calling by the ICICI bank and ICICI prudential
Advisors are disturbing the clientsThere is excess calling by the employee of the icici banks and by the
Advisors of ICICI Prudential, and this is one of the reasons why they

are not interested in the bank nor in ICICI prudential, and the other
reason is that most of the time Advisors try to meet the HNI clients
without prior notice, this create a bad impression about the company.
Most of the HNI clients, Money are kept ideal in the banks
This is a very good opportunities for the icici prudential to cash most
of the HNI client in varanasi, because there is not much option for
them for investment and most of the client prefer to keep a good
amount of cash with them for uncertainty and for other reasons.
In the insurance sector LIC is the number one company
prefer by the peopleLIC is the most prefer insurance company in the country, this is
because of the brand name and LIC is also the first mover in the
insurance sector and this is a great advantage for them. There are lots
of things which favors them are.
The company image in the mind of the people
The life long service of the company
A very good channel of people (agents)
Very good relationship with their clients

 Lack of information or knowledge about the private Insurance

Company.

PORTER FIVE COMPETITIVE FORCES

Competitive Force:
Michael Porter has identified five forces that determine the intrinsic
long-run profit attractiveness of a market or market segment.
Industry competitors
Potential entrants.
Substitutes.
Buyers.
Suppliers.

Threat of Intense Segment Rivalry:

A segment like insurance sector which is very attractive because, it is
in the growing stage of the life cycle, and these

makes this

segment attractive but on the other hand it already contains

aggressive competitors such as: Life Insurance of India.
Bajaj Alliances
ICICI Prudential Life Insurance.
HDFC.
Franklin Templeton.
Reliance.
Unit trust Of India. Etc.

The numbers of Competitors are less in the Insurances sectors that

makes this Sector attractive to most of the financial companies. So,
for that reason ICICI prudential have a tuff competition with other
competitors in this segment and secondly icici Pru had an experience
of five years of this segment but on the other hand the company like,

LIC had more then 20 years of experience of this market. So for ICICI
prudential there is threat mainly with the LIC. And in future this can
lead to frequent price wars, advertising battles and new-product
introductions and will make it expensive to compete. But overall this
segment is very attractive.

Threat of new entrants: Segments attractiveness varies with the height of its entry and exit
barriers. If we look from this angle then this segment is moderate
because the entry barriers are high for the foreign companies, because
of the restriction imposed by the Indian government on them, such as,
they can have a maximum of 26% stage in the company and secondly
the companies should have certain amount of money with them as
mention by the govt. and the exit barriers are low. This means that
few new firms can enter into the industry and poor-performing firms
can easily exit and for this reason, this segment is more attractive for
the companies.

Threat of substitute Product: -When we considers on the substitute

products, this segment is unattractive because there are many actual

and potential substitutes for the product of ICICI prudential and all the
competitors have almost similar product or plans, but they mainly
differ in the service point of view.
Threat of Buyers growing Bargaining Power: -This segment is
unattractive because the buyers possess strong or growing
bargaining powers such as: The buyers switching cost is low in the financial investment
sectors.
The product is undifferentiated because most of the companies
in the insurance sector provide almost same policies and
investment plans.

Threat of Suppliers Growing Powers: - In this segment, the

suppliers bargaining power is more, because banks and CA are the
easiest and the important channel to reach the client and for that
reason they have the strong bargaining power.

SWOT ANALYSIS
STRENGTH: Brand Name of ICICI:-The name of the ICICI is known in all
over the country as number one bank in the private sector and
this is the name which people have trusted for many years,
which is mainly due to the ICICI Bank. So ICICI Prudential, do
not have the crises of the brand name

 STRONG FINANCIAL BACKING: - the ICICI prudential

had a strong financial backing from their promoter, (ICICI
BANK and Prudential), which help the company to build trust
on the mind of the people.
STRONG SALES FORCE: - The Company has a very strong
force of good marketing brain, which gives an edge over the
other competitor especially nationalized insurance company
like LIC. And secondly it has a very good distribution channel
which helps the company to get more clients from these reliable
sources. These channel include
Allied Banks like

ICICI Bank
Federal Bank
South Indian Bank
Bank of India
Lord Krishna Bank
Some co-operative banks
Corporate Agents

Bajaj Capita

 India Infoline
Way 2 Wealth
Advanced Financial Services (Karvy)
Blue Chip
AHS
APS
Strategic Marketing Pvt. Ltd.
S M Insurance
Investment Managers
Allied Corporate AgenciesStrong Marketing and Sales Promotion
team
ULIPs: Almost 90% of the total business of ICICI Pru is the
business with the sale of ULIPs and only 10% of the products
are the traditional insurance policies. So this is the strength
which ICICI Pru can work upon more to get the maximum
positive results.

WEAKNESS: Lack of Information about the product:-Most of the product

of the ICICI Prudential are known by the people, this is because

of lack of information about the product and bad marketing

strategies by the company mainly in small cities
FOCUSING MAINLY ON THE URBAN SECTOR:-ICICI
prudential mainly focus on the urban sector of the country,
where the competition is very tuft and are not concentrating on
the other sector of the country mainly in the rural sector where
there.
Most of the Plans are too complicated:-ICICI Prudential
insurance plan are too complex to understand for a layout
person, and this makes most of the people to avoid this plan
because they feel difficulties to understand. The same is in the
case of Mutual Funds.
OPPORTUNITIES: A large Part of cities are uncovered: - A large part of the
cities are uncovered by ICICI Prudential life insurance where
they do not have any branches.
Some Top Nationalized banks should be made Allies: There are large parts of the cities were Nationalized banks have
large number of clients in compare to private banks, this is
mainly because they are operating for such a long time and

there is a good opportunities to converted those customer into

ICICI prudential customer, By making them allies.
There is a good opportunities to increase the Advisors base:
- when we compare the ratio of Advisors with LIC, then we will
find that there is a large gap between them, so there is an
opportunities to increase the advisor base by breaking the
agents of LIC.
Threats: LIC: - LIC is the greatest threat to ICICI prudential in the area
of insurance sector, because it is one of the oldest insurance
company in the country, and have a large size of the customer
abase.
Threat with some private banks: - there are some banks
which are providing these services to their customer. And
slowly taking away a good market share.

BCG Matrix

CASH COW: Tied Agency: -Tied agency are cash cow for ICICI prudential because
they are the people who brings more customer to the company and
cover a large area of the city and the cost of keeping them is very less
because advisors works on the commission basis the this is the reason
why they works so hard. Around 30 to 40 advisors work under one
unit manager. The cost of maintaining them is very less in comparison
to the other department.

STAR: BANKERS:-Bankers are star of the company when we plot in the

BCG matrix, because most of the HNI which the company gets is
through the Bankers this is because most HNI have their Account in
the Banks and they also rely on the banks for their investment.
Secondly people recognized ICICI prudential as a part of ICICI bank
and ICICI bank name is used by the ICICI prudential to get more
customers and usually customer trust ICICI prudential because of
ICICI banks.

Question Marks:Corporate; - Corporate allies come under the Question marks

because the city like Varanasi, where most of the decision are taken
by the HNI themselves, with little help or no help with their Chartered
Accountant, but there is a greater chance, if we convince their CA and
through them we can reach to their client very easily and in future
they can become star for the company but lot of investment is
required.
Dogs:-

No one at present;-As Insurance sector is at the growing stage, so

there is no dog for the company at present and in future ,which are on
the three section can become dog for the company

RECOMMENDATION AND SUGGESSTION

Lack of information about the service provided By the
ICICI prudential life insurance: Most of the client whom I meet during my survey told me that they
were unaware of the service and scheme, which the company is
providing to the people. This is mainly because of the lack
marketing their product by the company. So I suggest that the
company should market its brand in more aggressive manner.
Start Making Link with the Nationalized Banks to get more
Business:When we look at the Small city like Varanasi, most of the HNI
client prefer and have their account in Nationalized banks, because
this banks are giving good service for many years and If ICICI
prudential can make tie-up with the employees of this banks then
they can be able to get more business from this contact.

 Service of the ICICI bank should be improved: What I hear in Varanasi is that most of the HNI do not want to do
business with the ICICI banks, and this is mainly because of their
service and the banks do not give preference to them and there are
many restrictions in their operations. So I suggested that some
staff should be made to look after them, because they are the
customers who mainly give us the business.
Access Telephone Calling should be stopped: Most of the time, clients get disturb because of telephone call made
by the advisors of ICICI prudential and bank. I accept that this is
the most successful mode of contacting the people, but access
calling create a wrong impression in the mind of the customer.
Image of the ICICI should be improved in the City: Most of the time people do not want to do business with the ICICI,
because of the Hidden cost which they come across while dealing
with the bank.
More focus is given to the industrial class then the service
class: -

ICICI prudential are concentrating more on the industrial class

then the service class. It is generally known that more insurance
are made by the service class to get reduction from the Tax, so we
should also focus on the service class because they are the people
who wants to secure their life by investing in the insurances sector
and in the mutual funds. So I suggest that concentration should be
given to this class also because the ratio of the service class is
much high in the country.
More Local Employee should be hired by the company: The local employees will have their contact in the city and this can
be use by the company to get more business from their contact and
This will add additional benefit to the company

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Internet Websites:
www.iciciprulife.com
www.icicibank.com
www.google.com
www.bima.com
Directories:
Telephone Directory.
Income Tax office.
City directory.
Chartered Accountant Directory.
Carpet Industries Directory.

 Hotel Industries Directory.

HDFC Banks.
Indian medical association directory.
Transporter directory.
Exporter Directory.
Lawyers Directory.
Builders & Constructors Directories
CNF
Other Materials:
Marketing Management by Philip Kotler.
Finsight (Level 1).
Product Brochures.