Birla Sun Life Insurance sees a record 242 qualifiers for the MDRT

Birla Sun Life Insurance (BSLI) the second largest private life insurer today announced that a record 242 of its Insurance Advisors have qualified for the prestigious Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT) in calendar year 2004. Out of these 18 advisors made it to the Top of the Table (TOT), the highest honour at the table and 38 advisors qualified for the Court of the Table (COT). Kolkata alone contributed 6 TOT, 4 COT and 13 MDRT qualifiers.

BSLI continues to show one of the fastest growths amongst the private life insurers on the back of its unit-linked plans. New business premium income (annualised with 10 per cent credit for single premium) of BSLI at Rs.426.1 crore for the first 10 months ended January 2005 has shown a 113 per cent increase over the corresponding period last year. The premium revenue for the period stood at Rs. 587.3 crore, registering a growth of 145 per cent.

Speaking at the inauguration of the branch Mr. Nani Javeri, CEO, Birla Sun Life Insurance said, "Our good performance is in large measure due to the efforts of our highly professional sales force. This is borne out by the fact that we have 242 qualifiers for the prestigious Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT) for insurance advisors and as many as 23 are from Kolkata alone. We are pleased to inaugurate our second branch in the high potential and top-performing city of Kolkata". The new branch is located at Church Lane, Kolkata - 1.

Kolkata ranks in the top three cities in India in terms of Market Potential Value (MPV), which is next only to Mumbai and Delhi. MPV is an indicator, which represents the potential of a city as a market. The ingredients of the index are the prosperity of the city, the consumption pattern in the city, awareness levels (media exposure) and market support (trade and transport), besides the size of the market. Within the state of West Bengal, Kolkata's share of the population is close to 67 per cent and contributes nearly 75 per cent of the total Market Potential Value (MPV) of the state.

The Asian Insurance Industry Awards 2004 rated BSLI amongst the top five life insurers in all of Asia. BSLI is the only insurance company to feature in Top 25 "Hewitt Best Employer in India" survey conducted across all Industries and has been ranked among the Top 20 for two consecutive years (2003 and 2004) in the 'Grow Talent- Great Places to Work' survey across all Industries.

The company recently enhanced its range of retirement plans by launching the Flexi SecureLife II Retirement Plan. This plan offers several key benefits:

• A choice of vesting ages
• Choice of fund options and flexibility to allocate the premiums amongst the various funds
• Flexibility to advance or postpone the retirement age (vesting age)
• An option to increase the level of investment using the facility of top ups

BSLI has recently introduced new benchmark indices for policyholders to measure the performance of its various funds. The indices developed by CRISIL will set new standards in transparency in the life insurance industry.

About the Aditya Birla Group

The Aditya Birla Group has a turnover exceeding Rs. 28000 crore (as on 31 March 2004) and is one of the largest business houses in India. It enjoys a leadership position in all the sectors in which it operates. With over 75 business units, spanning the South East Asian belt, Africa, Canada and the UK among others, it is reckoned as India's first multinational corporation. The group is anchored by 72,000 employees and has seven lakh shareholders, with an asset base of over Rs.23000 crore.

Additional information is available at www.adityabirla.com

About Sun Life Financial Inc.

Sun Life Financial Inc. is a leading international financial services organization providing a diverse range of wealth accumulation and protection products and services to individuals and corporate customers. Tracing its roots back to 1865, Sun Life Financial and its partners today have operations in key markets worldwide, including Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Japan, Indonesia, India, China and Bermuda. As of 31 March 2004, the Sun Life Financial group of companies had total assets under management of USD 282 billion.

Sun Life Financial Inc. trades on the Toronto (TSX), New York (NYSE) and Philippine (PSE) stock exchanges under ticker symbol "SLF".

Additional information can be found at: www.sunlife.com

For further information kindly contact:
Ms. Anjana Grewal,
Vice President - Marketing & Communication,
Birla Sun Life Insurance Company Limited,
Tel: 91-22-5678 3333.
E-mail: anjana@birlasunlife.com