SKS Microfinance Pvt. Ltd., the new generation microfinance company is all set to roll out its health insurance product “Swayam Shakti” for the poor in semi urban and rural areas.

SKS Microfinance will cover its members in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Orissa by March 08 under the health insurance program. SKS Microfinance has tied up with ICICI Lombard General Insurance for this initiative.

Having already disbursed around Rs 1920 crores, SKS Microfinance is targeting to reach four million poor women members in semi-urban and rural India by the year 2009. In the last year alone, SKS Microfinance has achieved nearly 170 % CAGR, with a 99% on-time repayment rate.

“Swayam Shakti” is a tailor made health insurance product, which covers the SKS member, member’s spouse and two children against pre-existing illnesses, maternity, more than 24-hour hospitalization and personal accident for a period of one year. The low-cost insurance cover offers both cashless and reimbursement options.

The roll out announcement follows a three-month successful pilot wherein it covered 50,000 members and 1.75 lac lives in the semi-urban and rural areas in six districts of North Karnataka.

SKS Microfinance aims to cover its 500 branches across the country by March 2009 and over 3 million of its members and their families covering 10 million lives by March 2010 under the Swayam Shakti health insurance product. Currently, SKS Microfinance has about 1.7 million members with 653 branches across 15 states in India.