Bharti Axa General Insurance premium income up 38% to Rs 3,157 cr in FY20

Commercial lines segment focused on SME and MSME to grow by 49% at Rs 430 crore in the year ended March 31 against Rs 289 crore in the corresponding fiscal a year earlier

Bharti Axa General Insurance said on Monday its gross written premium surged to Rs 3,157 crore during the financial year 2019-20, up 38 per cent over Rs 2,285 crore in 2018-19.

Driven by crop, commercial lines, motor and health insurance, all product segments witnessed double-digit growth. Crop insurance grew by 59 per cent to Rs 828 crore in the last financial year from Rs 519 crore in 2018-19.

Commercial lines segment focused on SME and MSME to grow by 49 per cent at Rs 430 crore in the year ended March 31 against Rs 289 crore in the corresponding fiscal a year earlier.

Similarly, motor insurance posted 30 per cent growth to Rs 1,488 crore in the last fiscal from Rs 1,143 crore in 2018-19 while health insurance grew by 23 per cent at Rs 410 crore in 2019-20 against Rs 334 crore in the corresponding financial year a year ago.

"The expansion of the distribution network and partnerships, new business alliances along with improved business activations from the robust bancassurance accompanied by diversified product portfolio helped us achieve healthy premium growth at more than triple of the industry growth rate in the last fiscal," said Managing Director and CEO Sanjeev Srinivasan.

All distribution channels rose significantly with motor, health and travel fuelling the growth for the retail channel which recorded 33 per cent increase in its revenue to Rs 1,960 crore in 2019-20 as compared to Rs 1,472 crore in the same period a year ago.

On the other hand, the corporate channel increased by 25 per cent in its revenue to Rs 368 crore from Rs 294 crore in 2018-19.

Bharti AXA General Insurance, which currently distributes through nine banks and over 50 non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) and cooperative banks, also added a significant number of distribution partnerships in the financial year 2019-20.

The combined ratio, a measure of profitability that takes into account claims and expenses as a proportion of premiums, went up by 5.4 per cent and stood at 120.7 per cent in 2019-20 against 115.3 per cent in 2018-19.

This was a result of increased investments in technology, infrastructure and human capital to strengthen distribution network and service delivery platforms as the company is currently in the investment phase of its growth journey, said Srinivasan. He added that the company stood well-capitalised with the solvency ratio at 1.63 as on March 31.

"The current financial year looks challenging in view of Covid-19 pandemic and disruptions caused by the nationwide lockdown. But we will pursue opportunities across channels with a constant emphasis on customer centricity, focus on superior risk selections, prudent cost management, claims efficiency with investments in technologies and innovation to boost all lines of businesses.