Reliance General Insurance eyes full-year profits in FY14

NEW DELHI: Reliance Capital today said its general insurance business is expected to close full-year profits in the current fiscal, 2013-14, after swinging to fourth quarter profits in the last three-month period.

Reliance General Insurance (RGI), a leading private sector non-life insurer, clocked a profit of Rs 17 crore in the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2013, as against a loss of Rs 248 crore in the same quarter a year ago.

This was the second consecutive quarter for Reliance General during 2012-13 in which the company made profit.

Reliance General Insurance, part of Anil Ambani-led financial services major Reliance Capital, had posted Rs 16 crore profits in October-December period of the last fiscal.

"We are expecting the general insurance business to show a profit for the whole financial year. We expect gross written premium to at least grow by over 20 per cent," Reliance Capital CEO Sam Ghosh told PTI.

The gross written premium for the year ended March 31, 2013 was Rs 2,036 crore as against Rs 1,748 crore for the year ended March 31, 2012, a year-on-year increase of 16 per cent.

"Going forward, we aim to show further improvement in profitability by further optimising our product portfolio to other favourable mix and increasing our commercial lines of business," Reliance General Insurance CEO Rakesh Jain said.

"Our focus in this business is to write profitable business and improve the combined ratio further," he added.

Helped by improved performance in the last two quarters of 2012-13, RGI also narrowed the loss for the full financial year in 2012-13 to Rs 93 crore, from a loss of Rs 342 crore in the year ended March 31, 2012.

During the year 2012-13, the company invested Rs 155 crore into the business, while the total capital invested in the business was at Rs 1,747 crore. At the end of March 31, 2013, RGI's investment book stood at Rs 3,252 crore, a year-on-year increase of 20 per cent.
Reliance General Insurance offers insurance solutions for auto, health, home, property, travel, marine, commercial and other speciality products. RGI is amongst the leading private sector general insurance companies in India.

The company has a distribution network 126 branches and about 10,700 intermediaries and a private sector market share of 7 per cent, in terms of gross written premium, of the Indian private sector general insurance industry.
Reliance Capital is looking to induct a strategic partner in its general insurance business by the year-end, with a possible sale of a 26 per cent stake in Reliance General Insurance.