Cholamandalam MS General Insurance Launches Overseas Travel Insurance Policy
Includes Adventure Sports, Door-to-Door Coverage; Defines New Geographical Scope; Premium On A ‘Per Day’ Basis

Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, Friday, May 27, 2005 -- (Business Wire India)

Cholamandalam MS General Insurance (Chola MS), a Chennai-based private general insurance company, today announced the launch of its new overseas travel insurance product - Chola Travel Insurance. The policy coverage includes adventure sports like bungee jumping, parasailing, paragliding, deep-sea walk, trekking etc to cater to the growing demand of holiday seekers. Door-to-door coverage for Personal Accident, from the residence to international airport and back, is another first-of-its-kind benefit offered to the Indian overseas traveler. This policy follows a ‘per day’ pricing model, which is another product highlight.

Mr. Arun Agarwal, Managing Director, Cholamandalam MS General Insurance says, “Cholamandalam MS aims to provide customers a well-researched portfolio of products designed to suit their growing insurance needs. In line with this objective, we have launched our all-new travel insurance product with a host of coverage features that are critical to the travel needs of today’s overseas traveler. Our new overseas travel product reiterates our concerted effort on meeting these customer needs with value for money propositions.”

Chola Travel Insurance brings with it the added benefit of a newly defined geographical scope - Asia Pacific (excluding Japan), as a result of which, travel cover to say Australia or Singapore is now more competitive in price, as against the industry practice of charging a price applicable for the ‘Excluding US-Canada’ category for these destinations.

Another highlight is the coverage for cruise travel and one-way immigration travel with no additional charge.

The benefits of the policy include cashless settlement of hospitalization claims abroad, coverage upto 70 years without medical check-up, online policy issuance, maximum coverage upto 360 days by extension, special family plans with children covered upto the age of 25 years and annual multi-trip plans.

The product comes under two variants – the cost-effective ‘Silver’ and comprehensive ‘Gold’ to suit specific customer needs at both ends of the spectrum.

Chola MS also offers a range of other personal line insurance products like Home Insurance, Health Insurance and Personal Accident Insurance. These products are available through a wide network of over 1500 agents and 16 Chola MS offices across India and assure its customers of simple procedures and smooth claim processes that enable quick settlement. Since inception in October 2002, Chola MS has issued more than 6 lakh policies.

Cholamandalam MS General Insurance Company (Chola-MS)

Cholamandalam MS General Insurance Company (Chola-MS) is a joint venture of the Murugappa Group & Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Company Ltd, Japan. Chola-MS offers a wide range of products that include Accident, Engineering, Health, Liability, Marine, Motor, and Property, Travel & Rural insurance for individuals as well as Corporates.

About Mitsui Sumitomo

Mitsui Sumitomo is the second largest Insurance group in Japan, with a Net Written Premium (NWP) of 12.98 billion USD in 2004. The Company has 350 sales bases, 250 claims handling offices and about 86,000 agents throughout Japan. MSICL also offers its services globally with 63 sales bases in 36 countries and regions overseas.

About Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Company Limited

Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Company Limited (Cholamandalam), along with its subsidiaries and affiliates, offers individual and institutional customers a range of financial services - vehicle finance, corporate and mortgage finance, general insurance, mutual funds, securities broking, distribution of investment products and risk management. Cholamandalam shares are listed on Bombay (BSE) and National (NSE) stock exchanges.

Cholamandalam is part of the Rs 6250 crores Murugappa Group, one of India’s largest family-promoted, professionally managed corporate with over 28,000 employees. A pioneer and market leader in several fields with over 40 manufacturing operations across 12 states in India, the group has a strong presence in farm inputs, engineering and cycles, sugar, abrasives, finance, general insurance, sanitaryware, plantations, bio-products and nutraceuticals.