Bangladeshi insurance provider Pragati Life Insurance joined Business Call to Action in June 2019 with a commitment to provide health and life insurance to 1.5 million garment factory workers, a well as to 2 million rural and 1 million urban low-income earners in Bangladesh by 2021.

Having access to health and life insurance helps people weather health-related shocks in life. This is especially the case for low-income earners, who often live either in poverty, or close to the poverty line, and lack savings or any other means to recover lost income due to ill health or the death of an income-earning family member. At the same time, it is often low-income earners who are cut off from accessing health or life insurance because they simply can’t afford it, or don’t have the documentation required to sign up for it. 

Recognising this, Pragati Life has developed innovative new ways to provide insurance to Bangladesh’s low-income earners. For example, by partnering with Grameen Phone, Pragati Life was able to reach 1.7 million mobile users under its Nirvoy Life plan and 100,000 under the TONIC Health Plan. It also provided insurance to an additional 250,000 low-income earners, who can use their Pragati Life Health Card to access discount health services.  

Pragati Life sees those living at the base of the economic pyramid (BoP) as a relatively untapped market that stands to bring in substantial profit through appropriately tailored insurance products. In response, Pragati Life created insurance products that are affordable and easy to sign up for. They have a goal to provide insurance to over 4 million low-income Bangladeshis by 2021.

In addition to its line of insurance products for low-income earners, Pragati Life Insurance also offers a range of insurance options for high and medium-income earners in Bangladesh, tailored to their needs and financial situation. It aims to enable communities from almost all walks of life to afford insurance coverage.

Pragati Life currently serves about 500,000 people through its various life and health insurance products, as well as a further 100,000 rural citizens across the country through its micro-insurance programmes.