INSURANCE
General insurance firms' gross direct premium grows 16% in May
Jun-21-2017

General insurance companies in India posted a growth of 16% in gross direct premium in May 2017. The insurance industry officials say that the health, motor and fire insurance led the growth in the month of May.

Data from the IRDAI shows that, in the first two months of the financial year, gross direct premium underwritten by the industry was Rs 21,801.22 crore compared with Rs18,796.55 crore last May, a growth of 16%. During April-May, private sector insurers grew at 23% and received Rs 9,987.87 crore in gross direct premium. Public sector insurers saw lower growth compared to private peers at just 9.65%, receiving Rs10,675.47 crore in gross direct premium in April-May. Among the public sector insurers, New India Assurance and National Insurance saw double-digit growth at over 15.52% and 10.67%, respectively, in the current financial year. But Oriental Insurance and United India Insurance saw single-digit growth. All the four public sector insurers have a combined market share of 48.97%, while 18 private sector insurers have market share of 45.81%. Among the private players, ICICI Lombard leads with a market share of 9.85%, followed by Bajaj Allianz at 5.95% and HDFC Ergo at 5.24%.

In the last financial year, the general insurance industry had seen a record growth of around 32%, largely due to the success of crop insurance. Industry participants are hopeful that even this year the industry would register growth of 18-20%. Apart from general insurance, standalone health insurance companies also saw surge in their premium income by 43.73% in May.

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