Reliance General makes it to top 5 in premium income stakes

Reliance General Insurance, a Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group company, has, in the first quarter of 2006-07, grown at a blistering pace to become the fifth largest private sector general insurer in the new business premium segment, up from the eighth position it had held at the end of March 2006.

The company has, for the first time in six years since its inception in 2000, shown aggression in its business plans.

Reliance General Insurance collected a premium income of Rs 164.07 crore during April-June 2006, surpassing the premium income of Rs 162 crore the insurer mopped up in the whole of 2005-06.

It had collected premium income of Rs 48 crore in the first quarter of 2005-06. The premium income in the first quarter of 2006-07 grew by a whopping 241 per cent over a year earlier.

Reliance General added over 500 new corporates to its list of customers as it got engaged in aggressive sales efforts. Another interesting fact is that the company sold over 1.6 lakh policies in the first quarter of 2006-07, 18 per cent more than 1.35 lakh policies issued by it in the whole of 2005-06.

K A Somasekharan, president and CEO of Reliance General Insurance, said, "We have moved to the fifth position (among private players) from eighth in just three months. We aim to be the number three soon."

The company opened 36 new branches in the first quarter, taking the total tally to 51 branches, and 12 regional offices. It expects to have over 100 offices by March 2007.

The strength of Reliance General's agent force grew more than 200 per cent in 2005-06. At present, it has an agency force of 6,000 and plans to increase it to 15,000 in the next three years.

The company sells motor, health, travel and home insurance policies to individuals and fire, engineering, liability, property and group mediclaim policies to corporates.

It entered the marine hull insurance business in October 2005. The corporate business accounts for 70 per cent of its total premium income and the company plans to increase the share of retail business to 50 per cent by the end of the current year.