IOSR Journal of Business and Management (IOSR-JBM) e-ISSN: 2278-487X, p-ISSN: 2319-7668. Volume 16, Issue 4. Ver. III (Apr. 2014), PP 32-41 www.iosrjournals.org www.iosrjournals.org 32 | Page A Study of Product Quality of Selected Public and Private Sector Life Insurance Companies 1 Dr. Harish B. Bapat, 2 Dr. Vishal Soni, 3 Dr. Ritu Joshi 1 Director Management Programs & Corporate Communications, Vindhya Group, Indore, Approved by AICTE and Affiliated to RGPV, Bhopal and DAVV, Indore, M.P. 2 Professor and Head, Swami Vivekanand College of Engineering, Indore Approved by AICTE and Affiliated to RGPV, Bhopal and DAVV, Indore, M.P 3 Professor and Head MBA, Truba College of Engineering & Technology,Approved by AICTE and Affiliated to RGPV, Bhopal and DAVV, Indore, M.P Abstract: The need for insurance is as old as commerce and trading in the civilized world. Risk is inherent to life, commerce, trading etc. The insurance will provide safety to it. Insurance sector has been playing a leading role in the financial system of India. It has also been facilitating an objective to build an efficient, effective and a stable economic environment in India. It also caters to the needs of the both real economy and socio-economic objective of the country. It is making inroads into the interiors of the economy and is being considered as one of the fast developing areas in the Indian financial sector. It has been mobilizing long-term saving through life insurance to support economic growth and also facilitating economic development. In India after a monopoly of public sector life Insurance company for decades, the sector was opened for the private players in order to bring consumerism in real sense. The healthy competition among these companies has resulted in to better quality, customizations, innovations, choice, value, and affordability of the product offerings. The current study attempts to study the product offerings of largest public sector life insurance Company of India Life Insurance Corporation of India and the private giant ICICI prudential life insurance company Ltd on the aspects of applicability of SERVQUAL dimensions to current product offering and to study and compare the perception of customers in terms of service quality. The study discovers their present levels of the product offerings on the basis of SERVQUAL dimensions. The study also attempts to compare perceived quality of product offerings of the selected life insurance companies on SERVQUAL dimensions. It is an exploratory research study, which after development of conceptual frame work deploys structured instrument and statistical analysis tools like Eigen value scores and variance to measure the output. This study shall be helpful to give a wonderful insight to the practicing managers to identify the gap and take leverage by offering the desired quality products. Key words: Quality, SERVQUAL, Life Insurance, Organization, Service I. Introduction In 1956 nationalization of insurance business was a major milestone in the development of insurance business in India by taking 245 private insurers business. The Indian insurance market was thrown open to private players in the year 1999 and the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) was established to regulate the insurance market. After it‟s opening, the insurance sector has the entry of a number of private players who captured a significant market shares in the life insurance market. The public sector companies have to leverage upon their strengths to give a tough flight to the private sector players. The Product Life Insurance is now the most popular instrument for the planning for the risk of untimely death, the concept has been modified to merge with saving vehicles to create very interesting and apt investment product. Life insurance products have to suit the requirements of customer. The three major concerns of any person could be-Dying too early, living too long Or Living with disability Life insurance products fundamentally provide for- 1.Risk Cover 2.Investment 3.Heath Cover, 4.Tax saving There are four main types of insurance policies described as follows.- 1. Term Insurance: Term Insurance pays a death benefit to the legal heirs if the person insured, dies during the term of the policy. Terms insurance plans offer pure risk cover without any element of saving. 2. Whole Life Insurance: The advantage of whole life insurance is that the policy, if kept current, covers you over your entire life, as opposed to term insurance that covers you only for a certain term of years.