Consumer behavior has been changing in India, over the last few years as a result of the rising income and exposure to new ideas and technologies. However, there has been a sea change in this behavior post the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to the pandemic led restrictions, an increasing number of people adopted the digital way to avail services. From online shopping to ordering groceries online, using digital payments etc. changed the way companies ideated, developed their products, functioned, reached out to consumers, and provided their services.

Digital insurance company RenewBuy has executed its second employee stock ownership buyback plan (Esop), worth Rs 13.7 crore, for its existing and former employees. The second Esop has been executed in the last 12 months and provided encashment to its employees who were associated for three years and above, it added.

RenewBuy, which closed its Series C funding round of $55 million in August, has executed its second employee stock ownership plan...

Do you need an emergency fund account? Aren’t you doing fine for now, without it? The covid-19 pandemic has taught us that an emergency can happen anytime, at any point in one’s life. While covid is one such example, many other unforeseen circumstances can occur in the lives of individuals. Indraneel Chatterjee, Co-founder, RenewBuy, said that emergency funds are of utmost necessity in anyone’s life. It can help individuals in case of an unprecedented event like job loss, medical expenses, critical illness, etc.

Indian insurtech company RenewBuy raised in June a US$45 million Series C funding round. Through its subsidiary D2C Insurance Broking Private, RenewBuy enables retail customers to buy moto, health and life insurance products through an end-to-end digital experience. The company claims it has about 50,000 point-of-sale person advisors and insures over 2.5 million customers.

“COVID-19 caused a worldwide health crisis with a significant rise in casualties. The number of claims settled during the second wave was much higher than expected. The impact of COVID-19 led claims is likely to be one of the most significant reasons for term plan rates to be revised by the insurers," said Indraneel Chatterjee, Co-founder at RenewBuy.

Many automobile companies are gearing up to launch electric vehicles (EVs), and some are out with their e-vehicles already. Industry experts believe that with increasing consumer awareness and strict emission norms, the demand for these e-vehicles may continue to increase in the coming years.

Indraneel Chatterjee, Co-founder of RenewBuy, says consumers should look at creating a diversified investment portfolio for building their corpus and increasing their savings percentage. He adds, “Safe investment options are majorly focused on Fixed Deposits, PPF, gold, recurring deposits etc; however, traditional investment channels are now replaced with innovative solutions, which are also leading to high returns. The systematic investment plan, mutual funds, peer to peer lending, stock markets, real estate etc. are some such investment tools.” Having said that, take note of the risk-reward ratio, and a financial advisor is always suggested in such scenarios to guide in the right direction.

Indraneel Chatterjee, Co-founder, RenewBuy says, “Emergency funds should be created in life to meet any kind of unforeseen mishap- like a car breakdown, job loss, or medical expenses. One should keep aside a sufficient amount, depending on the financial capacity of the individual, which can be utilized during any financial crunch, without affecting one’s investment goals.” Hence, it is quite clear that especially in the post-pandemic era, these funds have emerged as essential tools for all age groups.

Answering this, Indraneel Chatterjee, co-founder at RenewBuy said regular health insurance is good enough to meet the basic health care requirements. However, a comprehensive health insurance policy offers extensive coverage, compared to general health insurance.