‘I expect market conditions to remain tough in 2013 also’

With the economy on the downturn, will you be affected?

In this environment it becomes difficult for people to commit for an insurance product which has a five-year lock-in. I do expect growth to be anaemic. The regulator is not going to give any leeway allowing us to charge more from customers. I expect market conditions to remain tough in 2013 also.

How was the last year in terms of growth? What do you expect in the current year?

Last year’s performance was good. Our overall premium growth was 13 per cent. In the first half of the year we degrew by around 22 per cent. But in the second half we showed a good growth. In the third quarter we grew by 10 per cent and the fourth quarter by 22 per cent. Though first half of the last year was not good, the first half of this year we should show decent growth. We gained market share last year by 260 basis points. Overall gain in the market share in the private sector last one year is 7 per cent. While we maintained our sales, we reduced our expenses last year. We made a maiden profit

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