BANCASSURANCE: A MARKETING PERSPECTIVE

The insurance industry in India has undergone a spectrum of changes since its liberalization, in terms of a number of players, the distribution system and the diversity of products. Bancassurance as a channel of distribution has been effective in the European countries and it has come into existence in India. The banks and the insurance companies come together and the banks distribute the products of insurance company's ie.Bancassurance. This arrangement facilitates the insurance companies in reaching out to the rural market through the strong network of the bank branches.The article attempts to understand the evolution of bancassurance in India through a review of the literature. Further, it explores the research in the area of bancassurance, tries to identify the gaps and provide directions for further research. For this purpose, several articles on bancassurances pertaining to various countries and India were reviewed. The earlier studies were reviewed attempting to understand bancassurance in the perspective of marketing. The research in the area of bancassurance has several perspectives and extensive researches have been carried out in the European markets while the research in bancassurance pertaining to the Indian context is limited. Research can be carried out to measure the effectiveness of bancassurance, explore the cross buying intentions of the customers of the bank, compare the effectiveness of the bancassurance channel over the traditional channels, the relevance of bancassurance with the increasing online purchase.