General Insurance Firms Post 19% Gross Direct Premium Growth in August

General Insurance companies continued to post positive growth at 19.1% (year-on-year)in gross direct premium in the month of August. Data from the General Insurance Council show that private players have seen high premium underwritten as compared to public sector insurance companies. While specialised insurers like Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of India (ECGC) and Agriculture Insurance Company (AIC) continued to see negative growth in August.

The general insurance segment saw gross premium income at Rs 9,013.97 crore against Rs 7,566.81 crore in August last year. While private insurers registered gross premium income at Rs 4,126.26 crore up by 40.1% compared to last year. While public sector insurance companies saw growth of 15.2% at Rs 3,825.19 crore in August, 2016.

The general insurance segment in the last few months has seen sustained growth and higher participation from private players as against public sector insurers. “We are witnessing higher demand from fire and marine insurance compared to other public sector insurance companies. Private insurers are already leading with high market share in motor insurance. In the last few months, private sector has seen higher growth also because of their participation in the crop insurance,” said a top insurance player. In the motor insurance segment, gross direct premium income underwritten by the non-life insurers up to August was Rs 19,314.53 crore with Rs 10,302.54 crore for private sector and Rs 9,011.99 crore for public sector firms. Apart from general insurance, stand-alone health insurance companies also saw surge in their premium income by 36.6% in the month of August. However two specialised players like ECGC and AIC saw growth of -34.1% in August.