Tendulkar: New pitch

Prague, July 3: Batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar will don the gloves for Aviva India, the life insurance joint venture between Aviva Plc and Dabur.

The insurer has signed on the Little Master as its brand ambassador. Sachin is the second cricketer to endorse financial products.

Indian captain Rahul Dravid is the brand ambassador for Bank of Baroda.

Aviva India managing director Bert Paterson said, “Sachin is the most popular icon in India for all age groups and his popularity transcends the boundaries of religion, caste and region. Our new product — Aviva Little Master — is a tribute to our brand ambassador.” The company declined to give details of the contract with the cricketer.

Tendulkar, who was present through video conferencing, said: “Aviva Little Master is a great opportunity for forward-thinking parents to secure their children’s future.”

Aviva Little Master, the 20th product from Aviva India, is a unit-linked plan designed for parents to secure their child’s future. The policy is available till a child is 17, and the parent’s age should be between 18 and 45 years.

Aviva also launched two other plans for children and an endowment plan for adults.

The company expressed unhappiness over the FDI limit in insurance staying unchanged at 26 per cent.

“There is an increasing sense of frustration in the whole industry. But we still hope that the limit will be raised. A higher FDI will change the complexion of the sector,” Paterson said,

Paterson, however, expects differences over valuations to arise between the Indian and foreign partner when the investment limit is raised.

He said there were no standard procedures for the valuation of a life insurance company in the country.

On its part, Aviva follows the embedded value methodology, Paterson said.

The company is also keen on mergers and acquisitions, according to Jean-Francois Izac, director of merger and acquisitions, Aviva Plc. “Mergers and acquisitions are high on the priority list of the group in the Asia-Pacific region.”