Bharti AXA General logs maiden net profit in H1 at Rs 3.3 cr

Private general insurer, Bharti AXA General Insurance, Monday reported a maiden profit of Rs 3.3 crore in the first-half of current financial year.

Its gross written premium (GWP) grew 38 per cent to Rs 1,087 crore in the first half compared to Rs 788 crore in the year-ago period, the company said in a release.

"Our efforts towards superior risk selection, improved operating efficiencies and focus on automation and digitisation have resulted in posting maiden profits for the company in H1 of FY19, and will help drive the growth momentum," the company's managing director and CEO, Sanjeev Srinivasan, said.

Its combined ratio, a measure of profitability that takes into account claims and expenses as a proportion of premiums, improved by over 15 percentage points to 116.5 per cent in the first half from 131.6 per cent in the same period of 2017-18.

Loss ratio reduced to 77.8 per cent in the first half from 85.7 per cent in the same period a year ago, while expense ratio witnessed a significant dip at 38.7 percent in against 45.9 per cent in the corresponding period of 2017-18.

While its retail business grew 19 per cent, corporate business rose by 67 per cent in the same period.

During the period, crop insurance surged by 91 per cent, the release said.