BS Insurance Round Table 2020: Predatory pricing slammed, sandbox lauded

Fighting for market share via outpricing is lazy; industry should revisit the way it looks at the customer, offer better claim experience and products, improve distribution, say participants

Key participants at the BS Insurance Round Table 2020 were unanimous in their views on predatory pricing in general insurance, with Bhargav Dasgupta, MD & CEO, ICICI Lombard, stating that the practice would kill competition.

Stating that since ‘detariffication’ in 2008, the industry had expanded at 17 per cent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) to reach a size of Rs 1.7 trillion in 2019, he said that the sector's profit after tax had declined by 12% on a CAGR basis during the same period. Dasgupta said the industry had to focus on underwriting profits and that there wasn't enough capital