Digit is Busting Complexity in Insurance With Technology Through Digit Insurance, Kamesh Goyal wants to simplify the insurance customer's journey, right from picking products, to policy issuance to claim processes

By Shipra Singh

You're reading Entrepreneur India, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media.

Digit Insurance

Having worked in the insurance industry for 30 years, Kamesh Goyal exactly knows the challenges facing it—confusion created by jargon-heavy terms and conditions and the resulant mistrust of the industry.

"Insurance is supposed to be a trust-based system where one is assured help during difficult times," says the Chairman, Goyal. "In a country like India where insurance penetration is low, I understood where exactly the challenge and opportunity lay."

Digit Insurance, one of the first fully cloud-based insurance firms in India, came about in 2016 with Goyal wanting to "make insurance simple' through technology. The core idea was to simplify the customer's journey and provide them with a seamless experience, right from picking products, to policy issuance to claim processes, as per Goyal.

The full-stack insurtech startup powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), image analytics, tracking technologies and data lakes, builds general insurance products, such as motor, health, travel and home insurance, among others.

The two-year old company has served 6.9 million customers till date, underwritten premiums worth INR 2,200 crore and processed over 2 lakh claims. It claims to have gained 1.2 per cent market share of the overall Indian Insurance sector within two years of operations.

Goyal also counts its Net Promoter Score (NPS)—a service quality metric—of over 80 an achievement for the company. The highest NPS score among the major private sector insurers is 70.3 (of ICICI Lombard GIC) in motor insurance category, 62.1 (of Bajaj Allianz) in life insurance and 76.7 (of Apollo Munich) in health insurance, as per Numr Research's Insurance NPS 2019 survey.

End-to-end Tech Solutions—Products, Documents and Claims

Digit integrates technology-enabled processes across distribution, buying and claims processing.

"The use of ML, AI and image analytics help us in faster fraud management and claims settlement," says Goyal. For instance, in the case of bike insurance AI-based technology solutions recognise basic checks like bike registration number, the colour of the bike, etc, which not only speeds up the process of inspection but also of policy issuance.

Similarly, travel insurance policies make use of real-time flight tracking to proactively register a claim in case of a delay. "We provide a three-step, 100 per cent automated claims process for our flight-delay product," explains Goyal. "If a flight is delayed beyond 75 minutes, we track it, send the customers an SMS asking for their boarding pass and bank details and process the claim." In contrast to the industry standard of offering a claim only when the customer's flight is delayed for over six hours, Digit claims to offer insurance payout for 75 minutes of delay.

The company also offers an audio claim feature that eliminates the need for the insured to fill long applications. The customer calls to register a claim, which is taped and transcribed to extract and store details for processing the claim.

On the business side of the things, the all-digital model has reduced the company's infrastructure and operational costs, as per Goyal. Though Goyal refused to reveal the numbers, a June 2019 report on insurance sector by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) shows that digitisation can reduce around 20–30 per cent of the cost of non-life insurance products and 15–20 per cent of the cost of life insurance.

Digit's technology-focused model has garnered sizeable investor interest since the company's inception. Indo-Canadian business tycoon Prem Watsa, who is chairman and founder of Fairfax Financials Holdings, pumped INR 350 crore into the company in return of 45 per cent stake even before Digit rolled out its operation in November 2017 on getting the regulatory nod. Later, Fairfax invested USD 44 million seed amount in Digit, followed by more in subsequent rounds.

The Bengaluru-based startup has raised cumulative USD 224 million in funding so far from A91 Partners, Faering Capital and TVS Capital, apart from Fairfax.

Empowering Partner Companies with API-based Solutions

Not just customers, Digit aspires to simplify the journey of its partner companies as well. It's application program interface (API) based solutions allows partner companies, which includes insurance aggregator Policybazaar, Flipkart, ClearTrip and Axis Bank, among others, to cancel or make amendments to the policy.

"We have built a cloud based interface with our partners especially for endorsements and cancellation. When partner companies need to make changes to the policy documents or cancel a policy, they do not need write us email asking for the changes. Instead, they can select the data fields that need to be changed, upload the relevant documents on the portal and the request is processed via a bot," Goyal explains.

In the coming months, Digit wants to devise tech solutions to empower Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) by offering them zero touch processes, both for claims and policy issuance.

Shipra Singh

Entrepreneur Staff

Freelance Journalist

Business News

JPMorgan Shuts Down Internal Message Board Comments After Employees React to Return-to-Office Mandate

Employees were given the option to leave comments about the RTO mandate with their first and last names on display — and they did not hold back.

Franchise

Turn Your Passion for Pets into a Business with a Wag N' Wash Franchise

Wag N' Wash is a store where pets can be cherished every day by feeding, washing, and spoiling them just how they like it.

Business News

The FTC Is Readying a Case Against the Largest U.S. Apartment Landlord. Here's Why.

The issue is with fees that allegedly weren't disclosed in advertisements for rental units.

Leadership

From Elite Athletes to Tech Titans — Discover the Surprising $100-Million Habit That Leads to Extraordinary Success

Success comes from mastering focus, eliminating distractions and prioritizing what truly matters.

Business News

'I Want the Best People on Our Teams': Meta Is Laying Off More Than 3,000, CEO Mark Zuckerberg Calls for 'Extensive Performance-Based Cuts' — Read the Memo

In an internal memo shared on Tuesday, Zuckerberg said it's "going to be an intense year" at the company.

Growing a Business

How Meta Generated $32 Billion in Ad Revenue Last Quarter — and How You Can Create Million-Dollar Weekends Using the Same Strategies

Meta's staggering $32 billion quarterly ad revenue isn't just about size; it's about strategy, systems and execution as well.