“We have seen a positive growth since there have been no major natural catastrophies in the recent past,” said G Srinivasan, CMD.
The total gross direct premium income of the company for the nine months ended December 31, 2012, stood at Rs 8,512 crore, witnessing a growth of 18.18 per cent over previous year. India contributed Rs 7,216 crore to this kitty, and Rs 1,305 crore premium income came from locations outside India.
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Srinivasan said New India Assurance had set a target of Rs 12,000 crore as premium income for the current financial year, with about Rs 2,000 crore from international operations and the rest from India. He added the company was also looking to expand in areas like micro insurance. “We have set up 160 micro-offices in the last three months and would add another 300 offices by the end of this fiscal,” he said. The company already has 500 micro offices and recently launched a micro insurance product ‘Jan Suraksha Laghu Bima Yojana’.
The insurer also saw a reduction in its underwriting losses, which stood at Rs 1,470 crore for nine months ended December 31, 2012, compared with Rs 1,786 crore in same period in 2011. The combined ratio (sum of claims ratio and expense ratio) of the company for the same period stood at 121 per cent, compared to 129 per cent in 2011. Incurred claims stood at 88.81 per cent at the end of December 2012, compared to 93.29 per cent in the same period of the previous year.
The investment income of the company stood at Rs 2,055 crore for the nine months ended December 2012, compared to Rs 1,709.14 crore in the same period of previous year.
The net worth stood at Rs 7,601 crore for period ended December 31, 2012, compared to Rs 6,740 crore during the same period in 2011.
Srinivasan said New India Assurance, along with the other three public general insurers, is looking to get an in-principle approval from the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irda) to set up an in-house third-party administrator (TPA). Each insurer would approximately spend Rs 50 crore, and a total of Rs 200 crore has been budgeted for this purpose for the next three years. General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC) would also be a part of this venture. Srinivasan added they were also in talks with Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) for the latter being a part of this TPA.