General insurers' H1 premium up 12.3%, may miss annual target

The general insurance industry may fall short of its premium growth target of Rs 1 trillion this year despite registering double-digit growth in the first half of the current fiscal.

The industry, consisting of 28 players, has recovered from a low 9% growth in 2014-15, and has mobilised a total premium of Rs 47,000 crore in the first half (H1) of current fiscal, growing by 12.3% from Rs 41,000 crore in H1 of FY15, according to data from the General Insurance Council.

The industry had closed 2014-15 with a total premium of Rs 87,000 crore, it added.

"I am not sure whether the industry will reach its target of Rs 1 trillion this year though overall growth has been better than last year, when it had clipped at just 9%.

"We are pinning our hopes on the ongoing festival season for pushing of the growth," ICICI Lombard head-underwriting and claims Sanjay Datta told PTI.

Motor and health, which have been traditionally driving the growth, have shown progress in the second half though the degree of growth may vary, he said.

"I do believe the industry will miss the bus with this kind of growth in H1. Still, things will depend on the industry's performance in H2," SBI General's managing director and chief executive Bhaskar Sarma said.

"Growth is not happening in segments like fire and engineering. Though growth is there in health, still the growth was slack when it comes to motor. But I do hope that the growth will pick up in motor in H2," he said.

"Corporate recovery is yet to take place. If it happens so, then segments like fire and engineering will also start growing. Economic growth has to pick up and awareness towards different kinds of insurance protection has to increase," he added.

All the four public sector general insurers -- New India Assurance, National Insurance, United India Insurance and Oriental Insurance -- at 11% have shown better growth than their peers in 17 private sector general insurers in the reporting period.

Four general insurers have mobilised a total premium of Rs

23,600 crore while the private sector general insurers, led by ICICI Lombard, have earned a total premium of Rs 19,200 crore during the first half of the fiscal.

Specialised health insurers, at 42%, maintained their huge growth during the reporting period.

The five health insurers have gathered a total premium of Rs 1,670 crore during the period.