A

PROJECT REPORT ON

MEASURING SERVICE QUALITY IN BIRLA SUN LIFE

INSURANCE

IN PARTIAL FULLFILLMENT FOR THE AWARD OF DEGREE OF

MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
IN RANI DURGAVATI VISHWAVIDHYALYA JABALPUR

UNDER THE GUIDENCE OF

SUBMITTED BY

Mrs. SHILPA

AGRAWAL

Mrs. PRACHI SINGH BAGHEL

ASST. PROFESSOR
(MARKETING)

4th

MBA

sem

Enrol- AY/10058

SHRI RAM INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT

NEAR ITI MADHOTAL, JABALPUR (M.P.)
Batch 2011-2013

SHRIRAM INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT, JABALPUR (M.P.)

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that Mrs. PRACHI SINGH BAGHEL MBA

IV Sem student of SHRI RAM INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT,
JABALPUR has prepared the project titled MEASURING
SERVICE QUALITY IN BIRLA SUN LIFE INSURANCE Jabalpur
which is being submitted herewith for the practice of
Partial fulfillment of Master of Business Administration
RANI DURGAWATI VISHWAVIDYALAY Jabalpur for the year
2013-2014.

It has been duly completed as record of bonafide work in practice

of, (MARKETING) SHRI RAM INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT
Jabalpur, (M.P.)
DR. ATUL DUBEY
(PRINCIPAL)
SHRI RAM INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT
Jabalpur

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the Project Report entitled MEASURING

SERVICE QUALITY IN BIRLA SUN LIFE INSURANCE which is
being submitted herewith for the award of the degree of
Masters of Business Administration, RANI DURGAWATI
VISHWAVIDYALAY Jabalpur is the result of the original research
work completed by PRACHI SINGH BAGHEL (MBA 4 th Sem)
under my supervision and guidance.

Mrs. SHILPA AGRAWAL

Asst. Professor
SRIM

Date:Place: JABALPUR

DECLARATION
I PRACHI SINGH BAGHEL do hereby declare that the project
entitled MEASURING SERVICE QUALITY IN BIRLA SUN LIFE
INSURANCE Carried at BIRLA SUN LIFE INSURANCE
Jabalpur is an original work carried out by me under the guidance
of Mrs. SHILPA AGRAWAL

in partial fulfillment of Master Of

Business Administration during academic year.

All the data represented in this project is true and correct to the
best of my knowledge and belief. This work has not been
submitted for any other degree exam elsewhere.

PRACHI SINGH BAGHEL

MBA 4th Sem
Place: JABALPUR
Date:

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

It gives me pleasure in expressing my heartfelt gratitude and in

datedness for the kind blessing showered upon student by
honorable Chairman Mr. R.V. Karsoliya

Shriram Group of

Institutions of Jabalpur (M.P.)

I would like to express my gratuity towards Principal Dr. Atul

Dubey

(SRIM),

Jabalpur

for

their

kind

cooperation

and

encouragement which help me to completing the project.

I am highly indebted to guide Mrs. SHILPA AGRAWAL

for her guidance and constant supervision as well as for providing
necessary information regarding the project and also his/her
support in completing the project.

I am thankful to all the faculty members of Shri Ram Institute of

Technology also for their help and valuable suggestion.

PRACHI SINGH BAGHEL

MBA 4th Sem
Date...
Place: - JABALPUR

TABLE OF CONTENT

S.No

TOPIC

1.

Executive Summery

2.

Objectives of Research

3.

Introduction

4.

Company profile

5.

Conceptual Background

6.

Research Methodology

7.

Data analysis interpretation &

8.

presentation
Observation and findings

9.
10.

Suggestions and recommendations

Limitations

11.

Conclusion

12.

Bibliography

Page no.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The project is about MEASURING SERVICE QUALITY IN BIRLA
SUN LIFE INSURANCE Company. The project was undertaken by
me and the entire task was divided into sub-tasks. The process
started from identifying the need fulfillment of project, then
research about the topic and collecting essential data, individuals
surveyed various activities or search from various books and
internet services etc. then. The pie chart designed in such a
manner that it gave a general idea about the ability and capability
of advisor. Certain scores were allotted depending on the data
provided searching various companies record from internet. All
data and record of company collecting by internet along with their
photographs.
The project report submitted here covers theory on MEASURING
SERVICE QUALITY IN BIRLA SUN LIFE INSURANCE, pie chart
of activities undertaken for recruitment data analysis of the
survey and a list of suggestions and recommendations for the
company at the end of the entire study.

OBJECTIVES OF RESEARCH
Study of the Reliable Service of BIRLA SUN LIFE INSURANCE.
To understand its Responsiveness in business.
How the consumer Assurance towards the brand BIRLA SUN
LIFE INSURANCE?
How BIRLA SUN LIFE INSURANCE will create a good image and
Empathy in the market?
Study marketing strategies of BIRLA SUN LIFE INSURANCE.

INTRODUCTION

INDIAN INSURANCE COMPANIES

Indian insurance companies offer a comprehensive range of
insurance plans, a range that is growing as the economy matures
and the wealth of the middle classes increases. The most common
types include: term life policies, endowment policies, joint life
policies, whole life policies, loan cover term assurance policies,
unit-linked insurance plans, group insurance policies, pension
plans, and annuities. General insurance plans are also available to
cover motor insurance, home insurance, travel insurance and
health insurance.
Due to the growing demand for insurance, more and more
insurance companies are now emerging in the Indian insurance
sector. With the opening up of the economy, several international
leaders in the insurance sector are trying to venture into the India
insurance industry.
Life Insurance is the key to good financial planning. On one hand, it
safeguards your money and on the other, ensures its growth, thus
providing you with complete financial well being.
Life Insurance can be termed as an agreement between the policy
owner and the insurer, where the insurer for a consideration agrees
to pay a sum of money upon the occurrence of the insured
individual's or individuals' death or other event, such as terminal
illness, critical illness or maturity of the policy

iskMedIaCovHlpPrEmRFtufnghcybxw
Life insurance policies are broadly categorized into 2 types;
Traditional Plans and Unit Linked Insurance Plans (ULIPs).

FUNCTIONS OF INSURANCE

COMPANY PROFILE

Established in 2000, Birla Sun Life Insurance Company Limited

(BSLI) is a joint venture between the Aditya Birla Group, a well
known and trusted name globally amongst Indian conglomerates
and Sun Life Financial Inc, leading international financial services
organization from Canada. The local knowledge of the Aditya Birla
Group combined with the domain expertise of Sun Life Financial
Inc., offers a formidable protection for its customers' future.
With an experience of over 10 years ,BSLI has contributed
significantly to the growth and development of the life
insurance industry in India and currently ranks amongst the top
6 private life insurance companies in the country.
Known for its innovation and creating industry benchmarks, BSLI
has several firsts to its credit. It was the first Indian Insurance
Company to introduce "Free Look Period and the same were
made mandatory by IRDA for all other life insurance companies.
Additionally, BSLI pioneered the launch of Unit Linked Life
Insurance plans amongst the private players in India. To establish
credibility and further transparency, BSLI also enjoys the prestige
to be the originator of practice to disclose portfolio on monthly
basis. These category development initiatives have helped BSLI
be closer to its policy holders' expectations , which gets further
accentuated by the complete bouquet of insurance products
(viz. pure term plan, life stage products , health plan and
retirement plan) that the company offers.
The Aditya Birla Group is led by its chairman- Mr. Kumar
Manglam Birla. The Group has over 88000 employees across
all its units worldwide. Some of the key organizations
with the group are Hindalco, Grasim, Aditya Birla Nuvo, etc.
74 %--> Aditya Birla Group
26 %--> Sun Life Financial Inc.
The group has 3 businesses:

1. Mutual Funds
2. Wealth Management
3. Life Insurance

Vision
To be a leader and role model in a broad based and integrated
financial services business.
Mission
To help people mitigate risks of life, accident, health, and
money at all stages and under all circumstances

Enhance the financial future of our customers including

enterprises
Values

Integrity
Commitment
Passion
Seamlessness

CONCEPTUAL BACKGROUND

SERVICE QUALITY
The quality of service is very important in present scenario.
Organizations are becoming increasingly aware of the importance
of qualitative marketing competitive advantages. Service quality
can be measured only against the need and expectations of
customers. The best way to adopt a user-based approach that
equates quality with the ultimate satisfaction of services users.
Service quality involves a comparison of expectations with
performance. According to Lewis and Booms (1983) service
quality is a measure of how well a delivered service matches the
customers expectations.

Generally the customer is requesting a service at the service

interface where the service encounter is being realized, and then
the service is being provided by the provider and in the same
time

delivered

to

or

consumed

by

the

customer.

The main reason to focus on quality is to meet customer needs

while remaining economically competitive in the same time. This
means satisfying customer needs is very important for the
enterprises to survive.
DEFINITION OF SERVICE QUALITY:

Service quality is a business administration's term and describes

the degree of achievement of an ordered service

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Approaches To Improve Service Quality:
1. Service design
Service product design
Service facility design
Service process design
2. Service delivery
Service delivery process
Service encounter environment
Customer-Provider interaction

MEASURING SERVICE QUALITY

Unlike the quality of tangible goods, such as computers, the
intangible nature of services makes their quality difficult to
measure. Service cannot be subjected to objective quality control
tests before it is provided to the general marketplace; it is only
with experience that we know how consumers perceive the
quality of the services they receive.
Word-of-mouth, personal needs and past experiences create an
expected service (expectation of the service). The perceived
service will be compared with the expected service by the
customer leads to the perceived service quality as a result.
Between the expected and the perceived service can appear a
gap if the perceived service does not match with the expected
service.
Measurement

of

Service

Quality

is

based

on

dimensions.

Customer did not perceive quality in a one-dimensional way but

rather judge quality based on multiple factors relevant to context.
For example, quality of automobiles is judged by such factors as
reliability, serviceability, prestige, durability, ease of use.

DIMENSIONS OF MEASURING SERVICE QUALITY:

Five specific dimension of service quality that apply across a
variety contexts. The five dimensions are:

E M PA
THY

ASSU
RA N
CE

RES
PON
S IV E
N ES
S

S E RV
IC E
QUAL
TA N
IT Y

G IB
LES
R ELI
ABLI
TY

The five dimensions are following:

1. Tangibles- Physical evidence of the service: appearance of
physical facilities, tools and equipments used to provide the
service,

appearance

of

personnel

and

communication

materials.
2.

Reliability- The ability to perform the promised service

dependably and accurately: consistency of performance and
dependability, service is performed right at the first time, the

company keeps its promises in accuracy in billing and keeping

records correctly, performing the services at the designated
time.

3.Responsiveness- The willingness and/ or readiness of

employees to help customers and to provide prompt service,
timeliness of service: mailing a transaction slip immediately,
setting up appointments quickly.
4. Assurance- The knowledge and courtesy of employees and
their ability to convey trust and confidence: competence
(possession of the required skills and knowledge to perform
the service), courtesy (consideration for the customer's
property, clean and neat appearance of public contact
personnel),

trustworthiness,

security

(safety

and

confidentiality).

5. Empathy- The provision of caring, individualized attention

to customers: informing the customers in a language they can
understand,

Understanding

customer's

specific

needs,

providing individualized attention.

These dimensions represent how consumers organize information
about service quality in their minds. On the basis of research
these five dimensions are found relevant for Banking, Insurance,
Appliance repair and maintenance, Securities brokerage, Long-

distance telephone service, Automobile repair services and

others. The dimensions are also applicable to retail and business
services.

PERCIEVED SERVICE QUALITY BY CONSUMERS:

After discussing five dimension of measuring service quality now
we can see that how customers perceived service quality? It is
described by following diagram:

Word of
mouth

Personal
needs

Past
experience

Service
Quality
Dimension:

Expected
Services

2. Expectations met

Reliability

Assurance
Empathy

1. Expectations exceeded
ES<PS (Quality surprise)

Tangibles

Responsivenes
s

Service Quality
Assessment:

Perceived
Services

ES~PS (Satisfactory
quality)
3. Expectations not met

Now we measure the service quality of insurance services

provided by Birla Sun Life Insurance. All measuring criteria
depend upon five dimensions which we discussed earlier, these
are follows:
1. Tangibles:

Physical

facilities

and

facilitating

goods.

Example:
Cleanliness
Convenient
Good employees/advisers
2. Reliability:

Perform promised service dependably and

accurately. Example:
Receive mail at same time each day.
Remind for paying premiums on time.
3. Responsiveness:

Willingness

to

help

customers

promptly. Example: avoid keeping customers waiting for no

apparent reason
4. Assurance:

Ability to convey trust and confidence.

Example: being polite and showing respect for customer.

5. Empathy: Ability to be approachable. Example: being a
good listener.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Need For Research:

A

number

of

foreign

insurance

companies

have

set

up

representative offices in India and have also tied up with various

Life Insurance companies. The business environment is constantly
changing and demand for adaptability among the organizations
tends to increase. Demands from customers, technological
development, change of value and globalization are the factors
that drive the need to change and develop an organization.
To meet the varying needs of various individuals, the life
insurance players have a vast foray of products and services in
their bouquet. Besides this, almost all companies offer the
flexibility to customers to choose the most suitable product for
themselves by combining features of a number of products and
services

together.

Thus

life

insurance

companies

have

to

customize the services to improve the quality of service to suit

the customer as per their needs.
It is hard to get advantages by quickly adapting technology to
product or service in an efficient manner. The ability to handle
organizations intangible assets such as service is of great
importance to reach success, then the ability to invest and
manage tangible assets.

Research Objectives:
The broad objective of the study is to study:
To identify the factors which affect to Service Quality
To study the Relative Importance of Service Quality

Database and Methodology

The study is based on both primary data and secondary data.

Primary Data: The primary data were collected by researcher

through the information including its purpose, the meaning of the
items

and

what

was

expected

of

the

respondents.

The

respondents were asked to give their Perception of the level of

service quality delivered by the insurance companies.

Secondary Data: The secondary information was collected

from the internet and publications.
Area of Study :- BIRLA SUN LIFE INSURANCE

DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

Relative Importance of Service Quality Dimension:
DIMENSION
S
%
PRESENTS

Tangible Reliabilit Responsiven

s
y
ess
11

32

Assuran
ce

22

RELATIVE IMPORTANCE OF SERVICE QUALITY DIMENSIONS

Empathy; 16% Tangibles; 11%

Assurance; 19%

Reliability; 32%

Responsivness; 22%

19

Empath
y
16

INTERPRETATON OF RESULTS
So the rank of the factors according to importance the consumers.
It implies that customers go for better priced life insurance policy.

Pricing with Quality of Service

Regarding the pricing behavior of companies operating in
different service industries, insurance companies are mainly
endeavoring to offer unique services in their market. Moreover,
they are bound to place an emphasis on their broader social and
political environment due to their social character and the high
regulation. They are also endeavoring to incorporate their pricing
strategy into their overall marketing strategy and, thus, formulate
a cohesive marketing strategy. It is also interesting that, while
they use some standard list prices, they are also negotiating their
prices individually with some key customer.
When combined with the findings that are related to the service
and organizational characteristics, it seems that "the cost of the
service" along with "competitors' prices" are the two most
important characteristics that
Trigger pricing decisions.

Employee Competence with Quality of Service for

Customer Satisfaction
Researcher examines satisfaction at the encounter level rather
than overall satisfaction, primarily because overall satisfaction is
a cumulative evaluation resulting from multiple experiences over
time. When customers are
Processing the encounter at the peripheral level, they rely on
peripheral cues to evaluate the encounter.

Customer satisfaction, then, may be the result of things not

remotely connected to the service encounter, such as preencounter
Stimuli (e.g., audio, visual).

Products with Quality of Service

Once it is recognized that competition takes place between
companies' offerings and not the companies themselves, it
becomes apparent that a "market" focus is appropriate. As most
life insurance companies would recognize, the offering, which is
presented to potential customers through the market, is the
primary focus of competitive strategy. While accepting that the
resources and reputation of a company may add value to an
offering, this does not alter the fact that customers choose
between offerings.
Although the two ways split works well for product offerings and
some service offerings, for many financial services the advice and
assistance are core parts of the service and are in many cases
indistinguishable from the "product" being offered. However, the
distinction remains useful in that it highlights the fact that both
product features and advice and assistance provide options for
differentiation.

Technology with Quality of Service

The most prominent contribution of this discussion is proposing a
way to the role of Sales force automation (SFA) technology in
contributing to customer satisfaction. Technology integration
allows improvement in interpersonal interactions and enhances
personal relationships.

This is critical, as is the need for the salesperson him/herself to

play an important role in this integration. SFA integration, then, is
about salespeople using SFA to enhance relationships with
customers,

not

about

using

technology

to

replace

the

salesperson's role in the customer interaction.

Physical Appearances with Quality of Service

This empirical study

has shown

that there is a positive

relationship between the levels of tangible components like

physical appearance of branch office and staff in a service
industry and the importance of the other tangible dimension.
Although intangibility is certainly a key characteristic of services,
tangibility performs an important role, particularly in service
industries which have high tangible components.
A certain degree of tangibility and intangibility exists in both
service process and service output. Even in service industries
involving less prominent tangible elements, tangibility cannot be
completely ignored.
In particular, the more a service has tangible components, the
more important are these tangible dimensions in service quality.
During the service process, if there are tangible actions physically
involving people, security and reliability are perceived as being
more important than in those services which predominantly
involve intangible actions directed at people's minds.

In addition, if tangible actions directed at goods and other

physical possessions are involved, customers perceive tangible
dimension as being more important. Finally, with respect to
service output, if a service involves the making of a tangible
product, or providing added value to a tangible product, the
importance of perceived value increases.

Trust with Quality of Service

Quality of Service increases customers' satisfaction with the
encounter, their trust in the service provider and anticipation of
future interaction. Researcher found that the customers' overall
satisfaction, trust and anticipation of future interaction seem to
decline as they are socialized toward their role in the service
production process other words, as customers are provided with
information about the service provider's expectations of them
(the customer), customer perceptions of service outcomes may
initially decline.
The findings suggest that caution is necessary when attempting
to increase the customer's involvement in the production of the
service.
This is not necessarily negative, if for no other reason than the
sentiments are much more enduring. It does, however, make it
more critical that the service provider become more adept at
delivering service quality as customers becomes more socialized
and knowledgeable about their role in service provision .

Service Delivery with Quality of Service

The processes, procedures, systems and technology that would

make a service a seamless one. Customers would always like and
expect

the

service

delivery

processes

to

be

perfectly

standardized, streamlined, and simplified so that they could

receive

the

service

without

any

hassles,

hiccups

or

undesired/inordinate questioning by the service providers.

Advertising with Quality of Service

Consumers buy a certain brand because it is preferable to
competing brands; they have implicitly or explicitly anticipated
that the selected brand will yield more satisfaction than the other
brands and that it will respond more appropriately to the relevant
set of felt needs. Hence, the amount of satisfaction consumers
anticipate they will receive from a certain brand constitutes the
expectations raised by the selected brand.

Service Management with Quality of Service

It is only recently that Service Quality Management has begun to
receive substantial attention from Human Resource Management.

OBSERVATION AND FINDINGS

There are some factors found in study which are affected to
service quality:
PROFICIENCY
Willingness to help customers and the readiness to respond
to customers requests
Agents and employees who understand the specific needs of
their customers
Agents and employees who have the proper knowledge and
competence to answer customers specific queries and
requests

 Effective customers grievance redressed procedures and

processes
MEDIA AND PRESENTATION
Attractive and informative media, theme layout, and
language of the advertisement
Easy to get information about insurance policies through T.V.,
newspaper, Internet etc. rather than agents
Modern looking updated equipment, fixtures, and facilities
Visually appealing materials and facilities associated with
the service.
PHYSICAL AND ETHICAL EXELLENCE
Provides proper drinking water and sanitary facilities
Comfortable physical layout of premises, furnishings, and
ambient conditions (e.g. temperature, ventilation, noise,
odor)
Providing visually appealing signs, symbols, advertisement
boards, pamphlets and other artifacts in the branch offices
High rate of return on insurance products as compared to the
other saving instruments (fixed deposit in banks, national
saving certificates etc.)
SECURITY AND DYNAMIC OPERATIONS
Flexible products/ new products that meet customers needs
Making customers feel safe and secure in their transactions
Enhancement of technological capability (e.g.
computerization, networking of operation, etc.) to serve
customers more effectively.
SERVICE DELIVERY PROCESS AND PURPOSE
Timely revival of lapsed policies, change of nominations,
addresses and mode of premium payment etc
Speedy documentation and processes from the time of issue
of policies up to the settlement of claims (e.g. premium and
default notices etc.)
Adequate and necessary personnel/agents for good
customer services
Ability of agents to give truthful advice on investments /tax
benefits etc.
CREDIBILITY
Adequate and necessary facilities for good customer services

 Appropriate behavior of the concerned staff

Wide use of modern and alternate mode of premium
payment, such as electronic clearing system, payment
through Internet etc.
FUNTIONALITY
Convenient location of the branch offices
Availability of top officials in case of need

SUGGESTIONS AND RECOMMEDATIONS

Any insurance company can provide quality services through the
fulfilled following prospects in the terms of dimensions:

 Customer gets individual attention.

Company keep customers informed about service that have

been performed and price charged.

Insurer has their customer best interest in heart.
Company has convenient Business Hours.
Staff calls customers by name.
I trust staff of Insurance Company.
Agents/advisors have concern and understanding

of

customers problem.

LIMITATIONS
The main limitations encountered are:

Sometimes customers take it as a fun and do not provide

correct information.

 Some products are costly and not to affordable by every

people.
The respondent was unwilling towards the questionnaire.
This survey covered limited number of customer.
Sometimes
respondent
deliberately
provide
false
information.

CONCLUSION
A major contribution of this study is the provision of an approach
for the managers to identify the factors of service quality and
customer satisfaction in life Insurance in India. Although the
satisfaction levels are on the higher side, yet there remains a lot

to be done by the management of the retail life Insurance

companies to maximize their customers satisfaction and improve
the quality of service. The satisfaction of the customer with the
services

of

Life

Insurance

Companies

is

linked

with

the

performance of the service.

Further,

many

customers

who

are

strongly

familiar

with

interpersonal services may never be satisfied with purely

technology-based services. This is probably even more important
in the relationship-based cultures of India. Customers seem to
want technology to be integrated into interpersonal relationships,
not to replace them, regardless of their own personal technology
readiness.
The perception of customers is that salespeople can use
technology to solve their problems, helping to develop a sense of
trust and satisfaction that is likely
to extend their relationship. The salespeople are the critical
element in the interaction and relationship, and technology's role
is a support element that helps them develop their relationships.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Books:
C.R. Kothari- Research Methodology (05 to 08, 31 to 34)
Dr. S L Gupta Sales and Distribution Management. (Page No. 296 to 302, 349 to
360.)
Kothari C.R.Research Methodology. (Page No. 1 to 2, 31to32)

Websites:
www.economywatch.com
http://www.trikal.org/ictbm11/pdf/ServiceIndustry/

www.birla sunlife.com
www.wikipedia.com