General insurance firms log 12.5% growth in 11 months

The general insurance industry recorded a 12.5 per cent growth in business at Rs 14,452 crore during April-February 2003-04, mainly on the strength of a robust 72 per cent growth of private players.

But the PSUs (public sector undertakings) "" New India Assurance, United India and Oriental Insurance "" continued to see flat growth.

While HDFC Chubb recorded the highest 1,348 per cent growth, Reliance General witnessed a fall of 9.71 per cent in business till February, according to data compiled by Irda (Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority).

The market share of private players went up to 14.21 per cent after they mopped up Rs 2,053 crore in premium income in 11 months.

The five PSUs together commanded a dominant 85.79 per cent of the market, having collected Rs 12,399 crore in premium.

While eight private players together registered a 72.47 per cent growth in business, the five PSU general insurers together recorded a meagre 6.34 per cent growth.

Market leader New India Assurance grew by a minuscule 0.06 per cent with a premium income of Rs 3,501 crore till February. Its market share stood at 24.22 per cent.

National Insurance Company (NIC) surpassed other PSUs to record a 19.3 per cent growth in premium at Rs 3,091 crore while United India (UIC) grew by 3.87 per cent to Rs 2,801 crore and Oriental Insurance (OIC) posted a 2.66 per cent growth in premium at Rs 2,621 crore. ECGC posted over 20 per cent growth in business at Rs 384 crore till February.

The market share of NIC stood at 21.39 per cent, while UIC had 19.38 per cent of the pie, OIC 18.13 per cent, and ECGC 2.66 per cent.

Among the private players, ICICI Lombard led the pack with premium income of Rs 456 crore till February, which was higher by 138 per cent from Rs 191 crore collected during the year-ago period.

It was closely followed by Bajaj Allianz (Rs 426 crore), Tata AIG (Rs 325 crore), Iffco Tokio (Rs 285 crore), Royal Sundaram (Rs 229 crore) and Reliance General (Rs 154 crore).

The two other players who entered late "" HDFC Chubb and Cholamandalam "" could mop up less than Rs 100 crore in the 11 months of 2003-04.

The market share of ICICI Lombard grew 3.16 per cent, closely followed by Bajaj Allianz (2.95 per cent), Tata AIG (2.25 per cent), Iffco Tokio (1.97 per cent), Royal Sundaram (1.58 per cent), and Reliance (1.07 per cent).

Other private players had less than one per cent of the general insurance pie.