Private players add zing to general insurance party

NEW DELHI: The general insurance industry grew by 20% in the first five months of ’06-07 supported by strong performance by private players, with the exception of HDC Chubb, which saw a decline in premium collections.

The 12 non-life players collected Rs 10,427 crore in premium during April-August ’06 as compared to Rs 8,668 crore in the corresponding period last year, according to data compiled by regulator IRDA.

Competition between eight private and four public sector general insurance companies may further intensify after detariffing from January ’07, since insurers would have a free hand in fixing product prices.

Market leader New India’s market share has come down from 21.56% a year ago to 20.07% while private player ICICI Lombard’s market pie has increased from 8.12% to 12.31% during the same period.

At present, the eight private players together have about 35% of the market share. Mumbai-based New India Assurance (NIA) grew business by 11.95% to collect Rs 2,093 crore in premium in April-August this fiscal. NIA was followed by Oriental Insurance Company, which clocked 11.63% growth in business at Rs 1,667 crore and a market share of 15.99%.

National Insurance saw a flat growth and collected Rs 1,542 crore in premium and 14.79% share of the market. United India’s premium income rose by 7.19% at Rs 1,488 crore, with a market share of 14.27%.

ICICI Lombard led the private players by notching up premium of 82% year-on-year to mop up Rs 1,284 crore, very close to the premium collected by United India. Bajaj Allianz was at the second spot as it grew by 32% to mobilise Rs 713 crore premium and 6.84% of the market. Iffco-Tokio collected Rs 570 crore, followed by Tata AIG (Rs 343 crore), Reliance General (Rs 273 crore), Royal Sundaram (Rs 245 crore), Cholamandalam (Rs 128 crore) and HDFC Chubb (Rs 76 crore).

According to the market share figures, Iffco-Tokio had a 5.47% share, followed by Tata AIG (3.29%), Reliance General (2.62%), Royal Sundaram (2.35%), Cholamandalam (1.22%) and HDFC Chubb (0.73%).

Besides the 12 players, there are two specialised general insurers — Export Credit Guarantee Corporation (ECGC) and Star Health & Allied Insurance. ECGC collected Rs 238 crore and Star Health Rs 89.55 lakh in premium in the first five months of this fiscal.