General Insurers Clock 32% Jump in Aug Premium at Rs 11,931cr

India's general insurers clocked over 32% jump in premium collection at Rs 11,931.01 crore in August this fiscal, Irdai data showed. The non-life insurers of the country had underwritten a gross premium of Rs 9,013.43 crore in August 2016-17. In a break-up of the data, regulator Irdai said there was a rise of 40% in public general insurers' premium at Rs 6,279.31 crore in August, from Rs 4,489.63 crore in the same month a year ago.

There are only four public sector general insurers in the country New India Assurance Company, National Insurance Company, United India Insurance and Oriental Insurance, which collectively own the majority of the market share. Specialised public sector insurers ECGC and AIC reported a more than two-fold jump in their gross direct premium at Rs 1,776.83 crore against Rs 664.46 crore in August 2016, showed the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai).

Agriculture Insurance Company of India Ltd (AIC) takes care of farm-related insurance needs while Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of India (ECGC) is meant for export credit insurance support for Indian exporters.For private general insurers,
gross premium grew 25% to Rs 5,651.70 crore in August, from Rs 4,523.8 crore in the same month a year earlier. There are a total of 17 general insurance companies in India, including ICICI Lombard, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance, SBI General, Kotak Mahindra General, HDFC ERGO, Reliance General and Tata AIG. Besides, there are six standalone private sector health insurance firms in the country whose gross premium during the month went up 38.3% to Rs 550.37 crore, from Rs 398.05 crore. During April-August of the current fiscal, premium income of all the general insurers stood at Rs 55,006.57 crore as against Rs 45,307.15 crore in the same period of 2016-17, as per the Irdai data.