Lead for the years after the sale

I am Nandini Zheqari, chief executive of the fictional Vaqruni Life Assurance in Nagpur. I grew up in Guwahati and began in employee-benefit administration, where a record could remain important long after the person who created it had left. Life insurance later gave that observation a larger commercial meaning. A company can change its distribution plan, technology or leadership while the policyholder continues to rely on an undertaking made years before. I want those continuing responsibilities visible in decisions about growth.

Vaqruni has 580 employees and 24 branches. Total premium for the year ending March 2026 was ₹1,360 crore: ₹510 crore from new business and ₹850 crore from renewals. Assets under management of ₹4,860 crore are a separate measure and cannot be treated as spare operating cash. Three domestic corporate investors own 51%, 29% and 20%; I have no personal holding. Nine executives report to me within a board-approved ₹146 crore FY 2026–27 operating-expense plan. Mehul Qorzali leads finance and Shabana Melzavi the actuarial function. Their professional assessments remain essential to executive and board decisions.

The cases here examine what a single growth number can hide. We separated the contribution of a large single-premium partnership from recurring new-business flows. We revised a sales conversation that made an illustrated future value easier to remember than the premiums needed to reach it. We gave existing-policy revival a distinct servicing route instead of allowing it to disappear into a replacement-sales campaign. We also delayed retirement of a legacy platform until closed-to-new-business policies could still be serviced on their own terms. These choices involved cost, slower expansion or a less convenient success story; none is presented as a universal answer.

Current focus

Building a growth account that includes distribution dependence, policyholder understanding and the operating life of older contracts.

Conversations I welcome

One carefully assessed external board contribution alongside my continuing executive responsibilities, subject to consent and appointment requirements.