Oriental's plan to bag Sahara a/c runs into rough weather

NEW DELHI: Hopes of acquiring the insurance account of Air Sahara may have crashed for Oriental Insurance Company (OIC) that was hinging on the Jet-Sahara merger.

The company already handles the insurance account for Jet Airways. With aviation insurance on its radar, this could have been an important deal.

“If the deal came through, it would have added to our topline growth by another Rs 50 crore. Jet has already renewed their account with us,” sources at OIC said. At present, National Insurance Company is the insurer to Air Sahara.

It was anticipated that when the new merged entity would go in for a reinsurance cover, the entire premium could go to OIC. Chairman and managing director M Ramadoss had said,”The insurance cover for the Sahara fleet is due in October. The premium for it would be valued at Rs 40 crore. The existing Jet Airways premium business is Rs 70 crore.”

According to industry estimates, the domestic market for aviation insurance is pegged at Rs 350 crore. Apart from four state-owned general insurers, the space is hotting up with emergence of private players like ICICI Lombard, Bajaj Allianz, Iffco Tokyo General Insurance and Reliance General Insurance Company.