United India net up 57%

United India Insurance Company Ltd posted a 56.61 per cent growth in net profit to Rs 341.07 crore for the first half of current financial year as compared with Rs 218 crore in the same period last year. The general insurer reported a 27 per cent growth in premium turnover to Rs 4,033 crore with an accretion of Rs 855 crore, from Rs 3,178 crore last year.

The company has set a target of Rs 600 crore net profit for the current fiscal.

Premium has gone up and expenses have declined, said G Srinivasan, chairman cum managing director, United India Insurance Company Ltd. “Last year, we had wage settlements and additional provisioning, which affected the performance in the last fiscal. This year we do not have it,” he said.

The company has set a target to bring down the underwriting loss to Rs 900 crore at the maximum for the current fiscal, from Rs 1,760 crore reported last fiscal. It posted an underwriting loss of Rs 406 crore for the first half of the current fiscal compared with Rs 605 crore during the same period of previous fiscal.

It is also targeting Rs 8000 crore as premium, a growth of over 25 per cent, in the current fiscal. The company would focus on retail, micro, small and medium enterprises and rural insurance segments to achieve the target.