General Insurers’ Business Grows In Pandemic-Hit Fiscal

General insurers’ business grew in the year ended March despite the disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Revenue or gross premium underwritten of such insurers rose 5.2% year-on-year to Rs 1.98 lakh crore in the year ended March 2021, data released by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India showed.

Both the listed insurers in the segment reported growth.

• ICICI Lombard General Insurance Co.’s revenue grew 5.18% year-on-year in the fiscal to Rs 14,003 crore. That compares with an average growth of 3.35% for private general insurers. ICICI Lombard's business grew 30.92% over a year earlier in March alone.
• The New India Assurance Co.’s revenue rose 6.22% in the full fiscal to Rs 28,481.65 crore. It rose 22.34% year-on-year in March alone.
• State-run non-life insurers registered the biggest jump in revenue in March at 254.31%, followed by private health insurers’ 41.35% growth.

Overall, revenue of non-life insurers rose 23.43% over a year earlier to Rs 19,298.85 crore in March. It jumped 22.4% over the previous month.

Not all non-life segments, however, performed uniformly, according to CARE Ratings Ltd. Fire and retail heath contributed to growth in the industry; however, growth momentum was pulled down by the fall in motor insurance premiums, it said.

“In FY22, along with the expected uptick in the health segment, any increase in the premium levels of motor third party segment, which was held steady in fiscal 2021, could drive the non-life premiums,” the rating agency said.