Bharti Axa to get Rs 645 crore capital infusion

Bharti Axa General Insurance Company is planning to infuse Rs 645 crore of capital in the next five years. It is also looking at expanding its network and planning to add 500 agents during the current year.

Speaking to reporters after launching new products under its Health Insurance Portfolio, Amarnath Ananthanarayanan, chief executive officer, said the current capital base is around Rs 230 crore, including Rs 40 crore infused last month. “Over the next five years, the company’s promoters will infuse around Rs 645 crore,” he said.

Bharti AXA General is a joint venture between Bharti Enterprises, a leading Indian business group and AXA Group. Bharti has a 74 per cent stake in this JV and 26 per cent is with AXA. Currently, the company has over 40 branch offices across the country, and plans to expand to 70 branches by the end of 2009.

The company is also planning to increase the number of agents to 2,000 from the current 1,500.

From August 2008, the commencement of operations, to March 2009, the company has collected premium of Rs 32.3 crore and from March 2009 till now, another Rs 100 crore premium was collected. The company had set a target to close the current financial year with a little over Rs 150 crore, he said.

Of the total premium, currently 13 per cent id contributed by health which will be increased to 20-25 per cent, said Ananthanarayanan.

Balaji C, vice president, property and engineering, added that the company already has a Smart Health Individual policy and a Smart Health Critical Illness policy. It has also filed more products with the regulator, including SmartHealth essential, which will be launched soon.

He noted health insurance constitutes around 15 per cent of total general insurance premiums, about Rs 4,500 crore against the total general insurance premium of Rs 28,000 crore.