The public sector non-life insurers have reported a sharp growth in the gross underwritten premium for the six month period ended September 2008 while the private insurers witnessed a slump in their growth. Overall, the general insurance industry clocked a marginal growth in gross underwritten premium in the first six months.
According to information gathered by FE, the public sector non-life insurers such as New India Assurance, National Insurance, United India, and Oriental Insurance have almost doubled their growth rate to 7.4% in the first six months of current fiscal as against 3.90% growth during the same period last year. The public sector insurers have garnered Rs 9,084 crore in gross underwritten premium in April-September 2008 period as against Rs 8,460 crore during the same period last year.
On the other hand, the private general insurers have reported a slump in their growth to 19.67% in their underwritten gross premium as against 25.36% growth during the same period last year. The private general insurers clocked a gross underwritten premium of Rs 6,512 crore in April-September 2008 as against Rs 5,442 crore during April-September 2007.
Among the PSUs, United India reported a higher growth of 12.94%, followed by National Insurance with 10.75% growth. On the private sector, Cholamandalam has witnessed the fastest growth rate of 34.45% followed by Iffco-Tokio with 34.20%.
Export Credit Guarantee Corporation (ECGC) has grown at a substantial pace registering a growth rate of 10.85% during the first half of current fiscal.
