Bajaj Finserv, the non-banking finance company from the Bajaj stable, reported a net profit of Rs 71 crore in the last financial year mainly due to the improved performances of the life insurance company and the auto finance business.
The company had posted a loss of Rs 33 crore in 2007-08.
The life insurance company, Bajaj Allianz, posted a profit of Rs 45 crore in its eighth year of operation. It also had posted a loss in 2007-08 at Rs 16 crore, while the general insurance arm — Bajaj Allianz General Insurance — posted a net profit of Rs 95 crore in 2008-09 compared to Rs 106 crore in 2007-08.
The bottom line of Bajaj Auto Finance also increased to Rs 34 crore last year as against Rs 20 crore in 2007-08.
“The overall slowdown has taken a toll on the general insurance business. We expect the industry to grow at 5 per cent and we will grow in line with the industry,” said Bajaj Finserv Managing Director Sanjiv Bajaj.
He added that the election results will have a significant impact on the industry and things would start improving in two-three months. He expects the auto finance company to grow at 15 per cent.
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“We had focused on increasing premium per employee and reducing acquisition ratio. We were able to reduce our new business strain in the new products,” said Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance CEO and Country Manager Kamesh Goyal.
Goyal added that the company will focus on traditional products and will bring down its dependence on the unit linked plans (ulips). At present, Ulips account for 90 per cent of the total business for the life insurer.
The gross written premium for Bajaj Allianz General stood at Rs 2,649 crore while for Bajaj Allianz Life was Rs 10,624 crore. The total assets under management for the life insurance arm went up by 26 per cent to Rs 17,157 crore.
The losses of most life insurers have gone up in the last financial year due to higher expense cost. SBI Life, the first insurer to break even, posted a loss of Rs 26 crore.
Similarly, HDFC Standard Life, Birla Sun Life Insurance, Reliance Life reported losses in 2008-09. The country’s largest private insurer ICICI Prudential Life managed to reduce its losses.