General Insurers

Irdai issued a circular on health insurance products in June and asked general/health insurers to offer a wider range of products to customers

An investigation by the Directorate of GST Intelligence (DGGI) found insurers wrongly extending tax exemptions to group medical insurance cover for employees of SEZ units and their families

According to insurance industry officials the decision is a big solace for the insurance & reinsurance industry as no tax can be levied on co-insurance premium and reinsurance commission

The regulator said that the insurer cannot reject claim in full or part if the breach of warranty or condition is not relevant to nature or circumstance of loss

According to the press release by the company, "This decision is part of our ongoing commitment to continuously review and refine our product offerings to better serve our customers' evolving needs"

The general insurance industry is expected to earn a gross direct premium income (GDPI) of Rs 3.7 lakh crore by FY26, an increase of 32 per cent from Rs 2.8 lakh crore in FY24, a report said. While the growth for private insurers is expected to remain strong and that of PSU insurers is likely to remain moderate because of the weak capital position, ICRA said in a report. The profitability for private insurers is likely to improve, supported by better underwriting performance, it said. The combined ratio for PSU insurers will remain weak, thereby impacting the net profitability, the report said. The industry's GDPI saw a robust 15.5 per cent year-on-year (YoY) expansion in 2023-24, rising to Rs 2.79 lakh crore on the health segment, it said. Apart from this, the report said that the growth in the motor segment was healthy, supported by the increase in new vehicle sales (two-wheelers, or 2W, rose by 13.3 per cent YoY and passenger vehicles, or PVs, by 8.4 per cent YoY in 2023-24).

D-Slls are insurance companies which are perceived as 'too big or too important to fail'(TBTF) based on their size, market importance, and domestic and global interconnectedness

The company will be operative and accessible at all times and will not store or hold any data, with the board of the company also having a policy on a revenue model which is self-sustainable

Premium, rules, and tenure of coverage are listed in Policybazaar chart

Private general insurers increased their combined market share to 53.58 per cent in gross direct premium underwritten in the first half of the current financial year from 50.81 per cent in the year-ago period. As many as 31 insurers from the non-life industry had underwritten gross direct premiums of Rs 1.43 lakh crore in the first half of the current financial year, according to data on segment-wise gross direct premiums up to September 2023 released by Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai). Private insurers registered an annual increase of 14.86 per cent in gross direct premiums. The non-life industry had underwritten gross direct premium (GDP) of Rs 1,25,194 crore in the April-September period of 2022-23. "Private general insurers have a combined market share of 53.58 per cent YTD September 2023 with a growth rate of 21.13 per cent as compared to a market share of 50.81 per cent YTD September 2022 with a growth rate of 21.33 per cent," Irdai said. PSU

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The government may have to infuse more capital in the three public sector general insurance companies to improve their financial health, a senior government official said. The government last year provided Rs 5,000 crore capital to three insurers --National Insurance Company Limited, Oriental Insurance Company Limited and United India Insurance Company. Based on the performance in the FY23, the finance ministry would take a call as to how much capital they would require to meet regulatory requirement, the official said. They are not in good financial health and fund would be infused in these entities to augment their solvency margin, the official added. The solvency margin is the extra capital the companies must hold over and above the claim amounts they are likely to incur. It acts as a financial backup in extreme situations, enabling the company to settle all claims. As per the regulator IRDAI's mandate, the minimum solvency ratio insurance companies must maintain is 1.5 to lowe

Impact of global hardening of rates on India difficult to predict, say analysts

Life insurers paid benefits to the tune of Rs 5.02 trillion in FY22, says regulator's annual report

Work done by life insurance industry led to economic revival amid Covid

Value of new business (VNB) of the insurer was up 10.3 per cent YoY to Rs 748 crore in Q2FY23 compared to Rs 678 crore in the year-ago period

Experts say the government's decision to link wage revision with performance could have been pivoted on the financial health of the four public-sector insurers

Non-life insurers registered a 12 per cent yearly growth in their gross direct premium income during August this fiscal at Rs 24,471.95 crore, data from insurance sector regulator Irdai showed. In the same month a year ago, all the 31 non-life insurance companies in the domestic market had garnered a gross premium income of Rs 21,867.93 crore. According to the data provided by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai), a total of 24 general insurers witnessed a 9.3 per cent growth in their collective gross direct premium income in August at Rs 17,101.75 crore as against Rs 15,648.63 crore in the year-ago period. The five standalone health insurance providers reported a jump of 28 per cent in their gross direct premium income during the month at Rs 2,059.38 crore. The figure stood at Rs 1,609.75 crore in August 2021. The rest two specialised public sector insurers in the non-life space witnessed a 15.2 per cent rise in their combined premium income in Augus

Mid-to-smaller life companies and standalone health insurers could face near term pressure

Unicorn will be first general insurer to be listed on the bourses in five years