SBI Gen Insurance expects to wipe out losses in FY19

SBI General Insurance, a subsidiary of the country's largest lender SBI, expects to wipe out accumulated losses during the current fiscal and may go in for listing next year.

"The company has already achieved break-even but some accumulated losses are still there, which should get wiped out during the current fiscal," SBI General Insurance Managing Director Pushan Mahapatra told PTI.

After wiping out losses, the company would look at listing on bourses, he added.

When asked if the listing would happen in the next fiscal, Mahapatra said it may happen depending on the board's decision.

SBI General Insurance, a joint venture between State Bank of India (SBI) and Australian insurance major IAG, turned in its maiden profit for fiscal 2016-17, its seventh full year of operations.

The company reported a net profit of Rs 153 crore as against a loss of Rs 120 crore in the previous year.

Mahapatra said the company has registered a growth of 36 per cent in the premium for the fiscal ended March 2018.

Talking about the proposed Ayushman Bharat scheme of the government, he said it is going to change the entire dynamics of health insurance in the country.

Last month, the Cabinet cleared the launch of the Ayushman Bharat - National Health Protection Mission (AB-NHPM), which was announced in the Budget. The scheme will provide a coverage of Rs 5 lakh per family per year and benefit more than 10 crore families belonging to the poor and vulnerable sections of the society.