HDFC Ergo sees capital infusion of Rs 80 cr

Private sector general insurer HDFC Ergo is likely to see a capital infusion of around Rs 80 crore in the next one-and-a-half years to support business growth.

"We may need a capital infusion of around Rs 25-30 crore in the current fiscal, as around Rs 75 crore has already been infused into the insurance firm. Similarly, we will require around Rs 50 crore in the next fiscal," chief executive officer Ritesh Kumar said here.

Promoters of the general insurance firm, namely premier mortgage lender HDFC and Germany's Ergo International, have already pumped in around Rs 75 crore in the first half of this financial year. The firm has an equity capital base of Rs 500 crore as of now, he said.

Kumar said the company would not require huge capital from the promoters in future as it had turned profitable on entity level from the last quarter.

"We don't need large support from the promoters, as the growth can be funded from internal accruals," he added.

HDFC Ergo posted net profit at Rs 14 crore in the April-June quarter and is expecting to retain profit for the whole year. "We hope that profitability will be sustained in the rest half of the year," Kumar said.

On the premium front, the general insurance firm has set a target of 35-40 per cent premium growth for this year.

"We had a premium collection of Rs 1,300 crore in the last fiscal and we aim to have 35-40 per cent growth in premium in the current fiscal," Kumar said, adding the insurer witnessed 44 per cent growth in premium collection in H1 of FY12.

HDFC Ergo draws around a third of its revenue from accident and health insurance segments, a third from motor insurance and the rest from corporates. "Growth in all segments is good. However, there are issues relating to third party motor pool, which is a concern for all general life insurance companies," Kumar added.