General insurance grows 23% in April-July period

NEW DELHI: General insurance sector grew by 23% in April-July this fiscal, which saw private player ICICI Lombard crossing Rs 1,000-crore mark in premium collection.

Robust performance by private players saw 12 non-life players collecting Rs 8,587 crore in premium in the first four months of ‘06-07, which is 23% more than Rs 6,973 crore collected in the same period last year, according to the data compiled by regulator Irda.

Market leader New India Assurance’s premium collection increased by 15% at Rs 1,730 crore and had a market share of 20.14%. Oriental Insurance was at the second spot by clocking 11% growth with a premium collection of 1,386 crore and a market share of 16.14%.

National Insurance saw a flat growth in premium income at Rs 1,269 crore and a market pie of 14.78%. United India Insurance’s premium collection grew by 7% at Rs 1,228 crore and picked up 14.31% of market.

The eight private players retained their 35% market share since the beginning of this fiscal. Top private player ICICI Lombard has crossed the Rs 1,000 crore premium mark to collect Rs 1,036 crore in just four months and had 12% of the market. ICICI Lombard is slowly inching towards the premium collection levels of established players NIC and UII.