GIC Re is looking at inorganic growth opportunities: Alice Vaidyan

Interview with Chairman & managing director, GIC Re

General  Insurance Corporation of India (GIC Re), the sole national reinsurer in India, is now looking at inorganic growth opportunities. In an interaction with M Saraswathy on the sidelines of the Asia Insurance Post conference, Alice Vaidyan,chairman and managing director  of GIC Re, talks about the company's strategy and expansion plans. Edited excerpts:

With global reinsurers making plans to enter India by increasing the number of branches, do you see this as a competition?

GIC Re has been supporting the sector for several years. We do not see any impact on our business. Having said that, we are not only looking to expand our business in India but also internationally. Currently 57 per cent of our business is coming from India and rest 43 per cent from abroad. We are looking at a 50-50 business mix.

Will you set up more offices abroad?

We are planning to convert the representative office in Moscow into a branch office. We wish to open offices in Brazil and want to set up an office in China to cater to the Far East. In future, we also wish to have an office in the US.

Has there been a big impact due to the recent Chennai floods?

We had gross losses of Rs 1200 crore. However, the net losses were only Rs 100 crore since we had adequate protection. Hence, we will not take a big hit on our books due to floods.

GIC Re was planning to enter  Lloyd’s. What is the plan on this front?

We are planning to build a syndicate and will enter Lloyd's (an insurance market located in London) that time. We are dropping the acquisition route since it did not work for us.

What are the company’s future plans?

We are planning to expand into newer territories and are also open to expand the inorganic growth opportunities. We are also looking at newer lines of businesses like cyber, liabilities and terrorism cover segment. Internationally, we are looking at Latin America and CIS region for expansion.