12 May 2016

Private sector companies saw premium income of Rs39,701.12 crore in the last financial year against Rs35,090.06 crore in FY15.

The general insurance industry registered 13.8% growth in premium income for the last financial year. However, at 13.1%, the growth for private sector general insurance companies was higher than that for public sector insurance companies, which stood at 12.1%. Data from General Insurance Council suggests that most of the growth for the general insurance companies came from health and motor insurance.

At the end of financial year 2015-16, the general insurance sector saw premium income of Rs96,402.37 crore compared to Rs84,685.69 crore in 2014-15.

Private sector companies saw premium income of Rs39,701.12 crore in the last financial year against Rs35,090.06 crore in FY15.

K G Krishnamoorthy Rao, MD and CEO at Future Generali India Insurance, says: “In the last financial year, the industry continued to witness growth from health and motor segments. With an increase in premium by 10-15% and expectations of a revival in the automobile sector, we believe even in current year growth will be led by motor insurance.”

In the motor insurance segment, gross direct premium income underwritten by the non-life insurers in the last financial year was at Rs42,410.58 crore with Rs22,569.97 crore for private sector and Rs19,840.61 crore for public sector companies .

Apart from general insurance, stand-alone health insurance companies also saw surge in their premium income by 41.2% in the last financial year. “Though health insurance is not as big as fire or motor insurance, but with growing awareness and importance of health care, we hope this segment will continue to see strong growth,” said a senior official with a leading health insurance company.

The data from general insurance council also shows that, stand-alone health insurance companies saw premium income at Rs 4,153.77 crore compared to Rs 2,942.56 crore in 2014-15.

A few years ago, insurance sector had set an ambitious task of collection premium income of Rs 1 lakh crore in FY16, but it fell short of target.

Source: The Financial Express