Reliance General Insurance, a wholly-owned unit of R-ADAG, has more than doubled its total premium to Rs 1946 crore from Rs 912 crore in 2007-08 to emerge as the third largest private sector general insurer. The first domestic general insurance company to have announced its annual business figures, it has registered a growth of 113% during FY07-08 and has contributed 45% of the total private sector domestic general insurance industry premium, said KA Somasekharan, CEO, Reliance General Insurance.
“Almost 70% of our business is from retail (55% from motor and 15% health) and rest is from the corporate sector. Post-detariffing, the premiums from the corporate segment has plummeted drastically due to too much competition. Going forward, we would focus more on the retail segment,?? he said. In ?08-?09 the company will launch a fer niche corporate products and will also devise innovative health insurance products, he added.
The company has added 115 branches in ?07-?08 and plant to further expand its branch network and distribution channels in ?08-?09 to expand its retail and rural business. The company has issued over 36 lakh policies as against Rs 14 lakh policies in 2007, and has a claim settlement ratio of nearly 100%. (98%).
The domestic general insurance industry is expected to post a marginal growth in 2007-08 due to a slump in the accrual corporate premium as general insurers gave heavy discounts to win accounts. It is reported that the general insurers have given more than 70%-80% discount in fire and property premium which has further touched over 90 % in renewal in April .
The domestic general insurance industry, which had mobilised over Rs 25,000-crore as premium in 2006-07, has added on new premium of Rs 2824 crore during 11 months of 2006-07. The private sector general insurance industry had contributed Rs 2,212 crore premium during the same period.