Munich Re eyes India to boost premium income

Munich Re, the world's second-biggest reinsurer after Swiss Re, plans to tap India's growing insurance market in a bid to reverse a decline in premium income.

"We are looking for non-insurance partners for India's booming insurance market," Chief Executive Officer Nikolaus von Bomhard said today on a conference call from New Delhi. Munich Re is aiming for "double-digit growth rates in premium income in the region," he added.

Ergo Versicherungsgruppe, Munich Re's primary insurance unit, last year signed a cooperation agreement between its health-insurance subsidiary DKV Deutsche Krankenversicherung and Chennai-based Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd, India's biggest health-care company.

The venture, Apollo DKV, plans to sell policies from September and to boost its presence to 25 cities in India in its first two years and to 100 by the end of 2010.

Dusseldorf, Germany-based Ergo announced plans last year to expand in Asia and said it expects to find a partner in India this year for selling life insurance as well as property and casualty insurance.

Ergo opened a representative office in Mumbai in May to help it win insurance joint-venture partners and it "is currently involved in promising talks and its list of potential candidates is long," von Bomhard said.

Munich Re already has a service company in Mumbai and a representative office in Kolkata to support clients in areas such as risk management.

Munich Re's gross premium income declined to 37.4 billion euros ($51.4 billion) last year from 40 billion euros in 2002.

The Indian economy, Asia's fourth-biggest, expanded 9.4 per cent in the year ended March 31, the fastest pace in almost two decades. Financial services climbed about 11 percent in value over the same period.