Insurance Marketing: Waxing and Waning of Values

This paper is based on an empirical investigation conducted in Western India at a time when the Indian economy was in a stage of transition from state capitalism to free-market capitalism during the period 2004-2007. It takes the 7 Ps of services marketing and cross-verifies responses against seven dimensions of ethical conduct. The target respondents were life insurance employees of bancassurance involved in marketing life insurance policies to customers in the urban sector. The commissions were more important than telling the truth while selling policies. Ethical considerations were lost. To protect the interest of the unsuspecting clients, governance machinery making the insurance marketing personnel accountable for marketing is required. In such circumstances, ethical norms on the part of the insurer are essential. In the Indian life insurance industry, to sustain its social image in a highly competitive market where even foreign players are steadily entering the domestic scene, people management expertise is inevitable.