Opinion poll

Assessing Insurance Business sector leaders evaluate the insurance business of the country With a baker’s dozen of insurance companies in the market, the Nepali buyers of insurance policies now have a wider choice, thanks to the economic liberalization that has been in vogue in Nepal since early 1990’s. However, the government has been continuing its involvement in this business, which is not liked by business sector leaders. In an opinion poll conducted by Business Age, some 73% respondents, entrepreneurs and senior executives of business organizations, stated that they fully supported the idea that the government should pull out of this business now. Though HMG has already decided to privatize the state owned Rastriya Beema Sansthan, the prolonged delay in the auditing of the Sansthan has been crippling this decision for long. Despite complaints heard about claim settlements by insurance companies, none of the respondents described their experience in dealing with insurance companies as ‘problematic’. As some of the respondents were from insurance companies themselves, 18% of the total respondents described their experience with insurance companies as "excellent". However, an impressive 73% of the respondents said that their experience with insurance companies has been "good". It indicates that the companies in Nepal are providing satisfactory services. While the existing insurance companies have been complaining of injustice towards them because the authorities went ahead in permitting a foreign company to do life insurance business here, while the applications from the domestic companies are still pending, very high majority of respondents favoured the idea of granting entry to foreign companies to operate in Nepal. Only 18% of them showed opposition to the idea. The opposition was mainly from those associated with existing insurance companies. This can be cross-checked with the fact that the same percent of respondents have rated the service quality of existing companies as "excellent". The displeasure of the business executives with the government continuing in insurance business is reflected in their response to another question. Asked which type of companies they think are providing better services, none of them named the HMG owned company. About 46% of them rated domestic private companies as providing better services in comparison to the others. Though existing joint venture companies have not shown good performance results so far for their shareholders, the opinion poll gives a good news for them. An impressive 36% of the respondents have rated their services better than that of others.	*1. How has been your experience in dealing with insurance companies in Nepal?*
	2. Do you support the idea that it is now about time for HMG to get out of insurance business?
	*3. Do you support the idea of allowing foreign insurance companies to do business in Nepal?*
	*4. Which types of insurance companies are, in your opinion, providing better services compared to others at present?*