 "New India Assurance Apr-Dec net profit at Rs 517 cr")
Mumbai: The largest general insurer New India Assurance today reported a net profit of Rs 517 crore in the first nine months of the fiscal (April-December) on the back of rise in premium income and improved operational efficiency.
The public sector insurer had posted a loss of Rs 177 crore in the corresponding period of previous fiscal.
Premium income grew by 18.18 percent to around Rs 8,500 crore in the first nine months of this fiscal.[caption id=“attachment_615002” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]
The New India Assurance logo. Image courtesy New India Assurance [/caption]
“We plan to reach premium target of Rs 12,000 crore by the end of this fiscal with Rs 10,000 crore coming from domestic operations and rest from overseas,” chairman and managing director G Srinivasan told reporters in Mumbai.
He said that operational efficiency had increased in this period with lesser claims and management expenses.
“The incurred claims has been brought down to 88.81 percent by the end of December against 93.29 percent reported in the same period last fiscal along with lowering of management expenses,” Srinivasan said.
The company witnessed a sizeable increase in its investment income in the reporting period, which grew by more than Rs 300 crore to Rs 2,055 crore against Rs 1,709.14 crore reported in the same period last fiscal.
“We have seen sound increase in the investment income during this period owing to the improved market conditions. We hope this trend to continue in the fourth quarter of this fiscal,” Srinivasan said.
The company, which had an underwriting loss of around Rs 1,400 crore in the first nine months of this fiscal, said it had come down from last year’s level and will come down further going ahead.
On the third-party motor premium, he said it had done an additional provision of Rs 500 crore as per regulatory guidelines in the recent past.
Srinivasan also said the company, which had reported a loss ratio of 97 per cent in the health insurance sector, aims to reduce it to 92-93 percent by March, 2013.
He, however, added the company had benefitted due to correction in premium in some segments.
On the focus areas, Srinivasan said that the company would focus on all lines of business with special emphasis on retail, SME and personal line of business.
“We are going to launch our online services soon,” Srinivasan said adding that the company is also increasing its agent strength to enhance its penetration.
PTI