There is a growth story that appears to many as a miracle. The story began when Partha Banerjee joined Niva Bupa Health Insurance Co. Ltd. (formerly Max Bupa) in 2016 as the Director & Head of Legal, Compliance & Regulatory Affairs, aka General Counsel (GC), the GWP was around ₹476 crores which became approx. ₹5600 crores on 31st March 2024. How did this turnaround happen? Because Max Bupa, in its initial five years, burnt more capital than required. The period between 2016 and 2024 has seen substantial regulatory changes and regulatory actions on insurance companies.
Partha’s first guidance to NBHI was to fix the basics so that compliance and customer experience go hand in hand. The relationship with banks, corporate agents, brokers, web aggregators and individual agents was the key to growth. The ease of doing business with NBHI was essential for these distributors. While IT integrations and other factors influencing ease of doing business are important, the agreements with these distributors were also supposed to be a win-win. The focus of NBHI was not on business at any cost. Compliance and ethical conduct superseded business interest because of continuous ethical practice, customer centricity, and compliance; NBHI became a respectable household name.
Partha’s guiding philosophy to NBHI has always been that the business should be sustainable, profitable and expandable, which in turn requires higher compliance, ethical conduct and customer-centricity. He also looks after ESG for NBHI and is very proud to say that the work NBHI is doing on carbon neutrality, climate change, sustainability, and ensuring social justice by empowering customers and other sections of society is commendable. In recognition of this, NBHI received ‘The Golden Peacock Award in 2023.
The Making of the Marvellous Leadership
Partha could achieve this miracle because of his vast experience over the last three decades as a corporate lawyer. He is a fifth-generation lawyer from the maternal side of the family. After graduating with honours in political science, there was a choice between pursuing a Master’s in Political Science, an M.Phil. in international politics, or law. Inspired by his mother, Partha chose law. From the first year itself, he found purpose in the legal field, something that had been missing from his life before. In his final year of law, Partha also joined the Institute of Company Secretaries, and the combination of law and company secretarial studies shaped him into a well-rounded corporate lawyer.
Since 1995, Partha has been practising in District and High Courts, specializing in criminal and writ jurisdiction. Between 1997 and mid-1998, he worked with the then Chairman of the Institute of Company Secretaries, a senior advocate of the Supreme Court. During the day, Partha handled legal matters in the High Court, MRTP, CLB, BIFR, and other courts and tribunals, while in the evenings, he worked under a practising company secretary, dealing with FIPB applications, RBI and ROC compliances, and approvals for intercorporate deposits.
From 1998 to 2000, Partha worked with law firms like Rajinder Narain and Co. and Singhania and Co., gaining exposure to large power projects, contracts, joint ventures, mergers, demergers, and strategic litigations in various High Courts and the Supreme Court of India. In mid-2000, he joined NIIT Ltd. as their Legal Head, responsible for NIIT Ltd., its 24 offshore subsidiaries, and promoter companies. At NIIT, he had to harmonize Indian promoters’ business requirements with the laws of multiple jurisdictions. Between 2002 and 2003, Partha was involved in establishing the food division of ITC Ltd., and by the end of 2003 until 2008, he served as the general counsel of NIIT Ltd., handling the demerger of NIIT Technologies Ltd., global restructuring, and inquiries by regulatory bodies such as SEBI and the Income Tax Department.
In 2008, Partha was offered the General Counsel position at ICICI Prudential, a leading private life insurance company. This was a time of economic instability, marked by the financial crisis following the collapse of Lehman Brothers. Partha advocated for expansion during the crisis, believing that investing more in the economy would speed up recovery. He also managed customer litigations, labour law compliance, and investment agreements during this challenging time.
In 2010, life insurance companies faced a new challenge when SEBI and IRDAI clashed over the regulation of ULIP products, which constituted 94% of ICICI Prudential’s business. Partha played a key role in managing this conflict, which was ultimately resolved with the intervention of the courts and the Finance Minister. This event led to increased regulation of the insurance sector, with extensive inspections by IRDAI continuing until 2022. Between 2010 and 2012, Partha was responsible for addressing a surge in complaints of mis-selling, successfully reducing these complaints with the support of the Managing Director and sales leaders.
In 2012, Partha founded his law firm, Chhanda Legal Associates, which initially focused on the BFSI sector. Within a year, the firm was providing services to 22 banks and 19 insurance companies, along with clients from the technology, entertainment, and manufacturing sectors. From December 2012 to October 2016, Partha dealt with legal challenges faced by various insurance companies, gaining insights into the complexities of the insurance ecosystem.
In October 2016, Partha joined NBHI. To his surprise, Partha found that the health insurance sector was more complicated than the life insurance sector. Unlike other types of insurance, health insurance services are provided at third-party premises, such as hospitals. The medical field itself is highly complex, and dealing with the hospital sector, which is largely profit-driven and often engaged in activities that could be termed as “abuse,” if not “fraud,” posed significant challenges. Building customer confidence and delivering high-quality customer experiences in this challenging ecosystem while managing intricate compliance requirements became the new focus.
Over the past eight years, NBHI has experienced remarkable growth, and Partha believes that the key to its success lies in doing the basics right and prioritizing customer interests. These eight years have enriched his understanding of the complexities involved in managing multi-level distribution channels, thousands of service providers, and numerous hospitals in a regulated environment. During this period, the company has also changed ownership, control, and other significant corporate actions.
Giving Tech-Impetus
According to Partha, in the current era, technology is the most important and challenging element of the BFSI sector, particularly insurance. “While Artificial Intelligence (AI) is helping us in correct adjudication of claims in fractions of seconds, the threat of cyber-attacks, malware, Trojan, virus and other cyber-threats are more real than ever,” he says. While companies need to invest exorbitant amounts of money in acquiring and maintaining state-of-the-art IT facilities, they are also required to be on their toes to protect customer data and the sanctity of computer systems.
NBHI is continuously investing in its IT systems as well as in protecting the system from cyber-attacks, he informs. Regarding the USP of NBHI, it can be appreciated that NBHI comes up with revolutionary products every year. For example, one of the segments that Health Insurance was unable to penetrate for a long time was the customers in the age group of 25 -35 who were attracted by the Aspire product of NBHI. While many insurers can copy products, excellence in customer service cannot be copied, and it comes with a lot of discipline, focus, and apathy towards customers, apart from superior technology. Therefore, innovative products, superior customer service and being ahead in technology are the USPs of NBHI, which is proved by the Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 51 already achieved by NBHI.
Partha adds that they are using IT in their contract management, litigation management, and compliance. The Legal Team, while handling litigation, is empathetic towards customers and understands that they are the last person in the queue to help the customer if, for any reason, they are prejudiced by NBHI. “We have regular and serious engagement with IRDAI, Ombudsman offices, GI Council and other industry players so that any obstacle in customer service and compliance is discussed and ironed out not only for NBHI but also for the industry.”
A Transparent and Empathetic Chief Strategist
Sharing his approach to leadership, Partha says that the shareholders, board, and management expect the general counsel to provide leadership to the entire Organization and play the role of chief strategist. Knowing every aspect of the Organization, the General Counsel is well-placed to guide the Organization in mitigating risks and also make it aware of the opportunities available in the market. General Counsels are well-placed to identify what is working for the Organization and what is pulling it down.
As a General Counsel, Partha gives adequate comfort to the shareholders, board, and management that strict governance, transparency and delegation of responsibility is happening in the Organization and that the Organization is complying with all statutory requirements. He is also responsible for the ethical conduct of approx. 8500 employees, around 1,50,000 agents and numerous employees of corporate agents, brokers, web aggregators and other distributors.
Regarding leadership style, he believes that transparency and empathy are the keys. Many times, business leaders come up with requests that cannot be granted. “As a General Counsel, I take them on a journey of decision making, which I followed in that case,” says Partha. The decisions are based on data, prior experience, and a bit of intuitiveness regarding how people and courts will behave if such decisions are made. He stresses the need for compliance and also helps other leaders in creating systems and processes so that 100% compliance can be achieved. “I am lucky to have a very strong second line that is able to provide fantastic leadership to the team,” he adds. His job is to give the second line adequate room for decision-making, help them get the resources they need and make them understand the Organization’s priorities and culture. Sharpness in defining the KPIs, periodic review, and helping the team whenever they find any roadblock are essential parts of his leadership. “Last but not least, all accolades are given to the team, and I hold myself responsible for every failure,” he states honestly.
Conquering Challenges
Further sharing the challenges, Partha explains that they have around 3000 retail litigations, which are handled on one hand with empathy towards the customer. On the other hand, it is handled harshly against fraudsters. “As an insurance company, we are subject to fraud by customers, distributors, hospitals and service providers.” Every payout made to a fraudster is a cost to genuine premium-paying customers. However, they do not treat these litigations as challenges or threats. Partha adds, “We are in an ever-changing regulatory environment where every change in regulation needs multiple changes in our processes relating to the acquisition of customers, issuance of policy, renewals and payment of claims.” Identification of these changes and their impact on the business processes is very challenging. Having the right people and processes for ensuring compliance, we are able to deal. Last year, they did a primary issuance of around hundreds of crores and a secondary issuance running in thousands of crores for which approval was required not only from IRDAI but also from the Competition Commission of India. “Soon after this project, we initiated the project for IPO, which itself is a mammoth project,” says Partha, adding that he is proud that while all other parties to these deals appointed top most law firms in India, their in-house legal team was able to do deliver these projects with the aid of any external law firms.
Business innovations have reshaped industries globally. According to Partha, a GC is involved in structuring every activity within the company to manage contractual, litigations and regulatory risks. GC is also aware of the swat analysis of every individual function within the company and is placed in a position where he can act as chief strategist for the Company. Technology and compliances are moving at a rapid pace. Being one step ahead is the need of the hour, and “As a GC, I am able to present to the Organization how to march towards the future, which is to some extent predictable as well. To deliver this, I am not only required to be on top of the legal and regulatory developments, the changing business ecosystem, but also the direction in which technology is moving,” he reveals.
A Crucial Advice to Aspirants
Before advising aspiring entrepreneurs, Partha cautions them that in the garb of capitalism, governments protect large business houses through bailouts and other actions. The governments also fail to realize that in providing a level playing field, they are coming up with laws and regulations which act as strong entry barriers. The ease of doing business is only talked about, and very little is done in this direction apart from easing the setting up of business. With the current regulatory environment and tax regime, every entrepreneur needs to find a niche area where they can provide unique value propositions for their customers. It is also important from Day 1 to ensure that the business is sustainable, profitable, and expandable – they need to have adequate governance and compliance mechanisms in place. The entrepreneur should also actively engage in advocacy with regulators and law-making bodies. Last but not least, they need to adopt a culture of transparency and create value for society at large.
Fostering Future Transformation
Looking to the future, Partha’s legacy goal as Director and Head of Legal, Compliance, and Regulatory Affairs is to transform the Organization into a revered institution known for its values, ethical culture, collaborative spirit, and professional excellence while also enabling data-driven decision-making for efficient legal responses in litigation matters. The GCs are required to do advocacy with regulators and law-making bodies and many times they are part of the committees formed by regulators. Being part of such committees they need to get out of their company specific hats and start thinking what is good for the consumer because unless the interests of consumers are protected, no industry can flourish. GCs are increasingly tasked with developing ESG frameworks for organizations, providing a fulfilling opportunity to contribute meaningfully to society and the environment. Awards like the Golden Peacock Award, 2023, received by NBHI for ESG initiatives, reinforce the commitment to creating societal value beyond myopic KPIs, he concludes.
