New India Assurance H1 net more than doubles to Rs 205 cr

Public sector general insurer New India Assurance’s net profit more than doubled to Rs 205 crore in the first half of the current fiscal on the back of sound growth in personal and retail lines along with higher premium in motor third party insurance segment. Its net profit stood at Rs 95 crore in the same period of the previous fiscal.

“Rise in profitability is mainly on account of sound growth in personal and retail lines, higher premium in third- party motor insurance and fire insurance segment overseas,” the company’s Chairman and Managing Director, G Srinivasan, told reporters here.

According to the insurer, global premium grew by 17.48 per cent to Rs 5,838.60 crore in the first half of FY13. While domestic premium rose 15 per cent to around Rs 5,000 crore, overseas premium increased by 34.14 per cent during H1.

“We hope to cross a global premium of Rs 12,000 crore this fiscal, Srinivasan said, adding the focus would be on retail, personal, rural and SME segments in the near future. The combined loss ratio, one of the critical parameter of profitability, reduced to 124.91 per cent by the end of September quarter from 129 per cent last fiscal.

The firm, which has increased premiums in the group mediclaim and approached the regulator for doing so in personal mediclaim policy, witnessed a reduction in claim ratio to 88.29 per cent by the September quarter in the health insurance segment. “We had not revised the premium on personal mediclaim schemes. So, we have approached the regulator to increase the premium in this segment,” Srinivasan.

On the concerns regarding losses in third party motor segment, he said the pricing is not adequate and industry has been asking for a price rise in this segment. On the common third party administrator (TPA), he said the process is likely to be completed in next six months. Four public sector general insurance firms, GIC and LIC are setting up a common TPA to settle medical claims. Srinivasan said the company would set up another 300 micro offices in the next few months in order to increase its penetration in rural and semi-urban areas.