Bharti Axa eyes 40-45% premium growth

Private general insurer Bharti Axa General Insurance is likely to post 40-45% growth in premium collection to Rs 800 crore in the current financial year on the back of sound growth in motor and health insurance segments, a top official said today.

"We hope revenue growth will be in the range of 40-45% in the current fiscal," the company's Chief Executive, Amaranath Ananthanarayanan, said.

The Bangalore-based general insurer had a premium collection of Rs 550 crore in the past fiscal and it aims to grow it to Rs 800 crore in the current financial year.

"Total premium collection in the first eight months is over Rs 500 crore," Ananthanarayanan said.

He added that verticals like motor and health insurance are growing faster for the company, despite a near washout for the auto sector this fiscal.

"Both motor and health segments are performing quite well for us. The health segment has grown by around 60% in the first eight months of this fiscal over the same period last year," Ananthanarayanan said.

His optimism stems from the better average monthly collection, which is around Rs 60 crore a month. On the impact of dismantling of the third-party motor pool, Ananthanarayanan said this would definitely boost the balance sheet of the company. He did not divulge further details.

The company is a joint venture between Bharti Enterprises and French financial services major Axa Group in which 74% stake is held by the Bharti Group.

Axa Group is a global player in insurance and asset management with 2,14,000 employees serving 95 million clients. In 2010, its revenues stood at 91 billion euros.