New India reports 187% rise in Quarter 2 profit

New India Assurance Co, has reported a 187 per cent increase in net profits for the second quarter ended September 30 at Rs.748 crore. This was its first results announced after its listing on the stock exchange. The gross written premium was Rs.6,489 crore, a growth of 12 per cent compared to the same quarter last year. G Srinivasan, CMD of New India Assurance, said the results had improved substantially due to drop in claims ratio and operating expense ratio, thanks to various steps taken by the company. This was achieved by repricing health insurance products as well as claims control being done more efficiently, for instance by recruiting more doctors on their panel, he added. There was a 25 per cent increase in retail health premiums while corporate health premiums were hiked between 20 and 40 per cent, he said. Claims ratio in health had come down from 111 per cent to 102 per cent while motor claims ratio was down from nearly 88 per cent to 83 per cent. Srinivasan said operating expenses were also down by 4 per cent, mainly due to scaling up of business without any increase in costs. This helped in reduction of combined ratio at 111.76 per cent, against 119.81 per cent in the previous year period. The company would grow in line with the market and increase its market share marginally, as it has been doing for the past five years, he added. New India has a share of 15 per cent in the Rs.1.30 lakh crore general insurance market. The company’s solvency margin was at a comfortable 2.24, Srinivasan said.