HDFC Ergo net surges over 83% on spike in crop insurance sales

Driven by a surge in the crop insurance segment, non-life insurer HDFC Ergo today reported an 83.2 per cent jump in net profit at Rs 277.2 crore for the full year 2016-17.
The third largest private sector general insurer's gross direct premium surged 72.8 per cent to Rs 5,840 crore.
"We have seen growth across all our products, though it has been the strongest in crop insurance, followed by motor and health," Ritesh Kumar, managing director and chief executive told PTI.
"The crop insurance segment alone grew by five-fold and now comprises 34 per cent of the company's total premium," he added.

While the non-crop insurance segment grew 24 per cent, retail premium clipped at a higher 27 per cent.
Kumar said in the new fiscal year the company hopes to grow slightly higher than the industry which is pegged at 17- 18 per cent.

Over the past five years, HDFC Ergo has grown at a CAGR of 26 per cent compared with the industry's 17 per cent.
The underwriting loss came down to Rs 60 crore from Rs 150 crore a year ago. Investment income also grew to Rs 460 crore from Rs 362 crore, while its combined ratio came down to 100.67 per cent from 105.26 per cent. However, the claim ratio was slightly up to 76 per cent from 73 per cent a year ago.

According to Kumar, the balance sheet took a hit of around Rs 75 crore due to floods in Tamil Nadu.
The market share of the company improved to 4.6 per cent from 3.5 per cent and combined with the market of its subsidiary HDFC General or erstwhile L&T General it commands of the 4.9 per cent market pie.