Pushan Mahapatra new SBI General Insurance chief

Mahapatra has been associated with the company since July 2014 as General Manager and Chief Operating Officer

Private sector non-life insurance firm SBI General Insurance has appointed Pushan Mahapatra as its new managing director and chief executive officer.

SBI General Insurance is a joint venture between State Bank of India and Insurance Australia Group and the post was vacated after Bhaskar J Sarma retired on December 31, 2015.

Mahapatra, who took over the reins on January 1, has been associated with the company since July 2014 as General Manager and Chief Operating Officer.

"At present, the insurance industry is undergoing a transformation in terms of capital inflow, digitalisation and risk modelling. It will be exciting to see how we can tap these opportunities to ensure the continued growth of the sector," Mahapatra told PTI.

He will head the company's growth across State Bank of India's network of 19,000 branches, SBI General Insurance's 90 branches and an additional network of 350+ satellite branches.

The company's gross written premium grew by 28 per cent as on November 30, 2015 at Rs 1,153 crore, from Rs 899.5 crore a year ago, which was more than the industry growth of 12.3 per cent during the period.