Nothing Much in Budget 2012 for Insurance Industry

The insurance sector has had a neutral reaction to the 2012 budget. Most experts believe the hike in service tax will not affect the sector. Industry experts said that while in the past it was a common practice for companies to pay the service tax charges incurred by their agents. The recent trend was towards slowly passing these charges on to the customers and hence the rise in service tax does not pose a major threat to revenues.

While the insurance industry's main demand from this budget was for the Foreign Direct Investment cap in Insurance to be raised from 26 percent to 49 percent, experts believe that this demand will take longer. Although the finance minister has announced an amendment to the laws, experts believe that this announcement is a routine one. The Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill will allow an increase of FDI in Indian insurance companies' up to 49 percent from the current ceiling of 26 percent. The bill also proposes to do away with the provision of Indian promoters of insurance companies having to reduce their stakes to 26 percent over a period of time.

The proposal to tax customers on policy maturity has also put the life insurance industry on its guard. Industry insiders believe that this will lead to a loss of business and make insurance unattractive to investors.

The budget has been received with no cheer by the insurance industry as top executives believe that nothing much has changed for them post the budget. The word "status-quo" is the most popular way to describe the reaction of the Indian insurance industry to the Budget 2012 proposals.

Save Advertising Money and Gain Integrity by Writing Articles for Insurance Industry Journals

Would you rather have three seconds of an insurance prospect's attention, or 15 minutes of his devoted attention? Of course, all of us would opt for the 15 minutes. That time is the difference between scanning an ad and reading an article in a business journal.

When a prospect sees an ad, he scans the headline. If it interests him, he might read further. Each ad typically receives about three seconds of attention, sometimes less. However, informational articles that pertain to your prospect usually get 15 minutes of his attention. The question is, who is writing these articles? Well, you should be.

Tricks of the trade

Most business owners and operators subscribe to a variety of trade publications. You might even be advertising in some of them. But, have you ever thought about submitting an article to one? Many trade journals accept articles from industry experts. Publishing articles is a great way to establish yourself as an expert and gain publicity for your company.

Why published articles work

While most of us are skeptical of advertising, we often trust that what is printed in a trade journal article is mostly, if not entirely, the truth. Although readers may not believe what is stated in an ad, they are more apt to read and think about what you have to say in an article, and credibility is everything. Many of my clients have told me that they receive higher lead generations through articles than advertisements.