The New India Assurance reported an increase in net profit at Rs 2,201 crore for the last financial year, a growth of 118% against Rs 1,008 crore in the previous financial year. The combined ratio of the country’s largest non-life insurance company also improved to 111.2% in 2017-18 from 118.7% in the previous fiscal. The company has also declared a one for one bonus subject to approval of the shareholders.
G Srinivasan, chairman-cum-managing director, said, “The profit of the company for the year has more than doubled due to substantial improvement in the operating performance of the company. The combined ratio has dropped by 8% due to improvement in the claims ratio and expense ratio of the company. This has been the result of various steps taken to improve underwriting and claims management of the company.”
The gross written premium in 2017-18 financial year stood at Rs 26,554 crore as against Rs 23,020 crore up by 15.3%. The company has declared a final dividend of Rs 5 per share (pre bonus) taking the total dividend to Rs 8.75 for the year. Solvency ratio as at March 31, 2018 was at comfortable levels of 2.58 times. Senior officials in the company also added that, positive performance was also due to the low under writing losses in health and motor insurance.
Srinivasan also added: “The company will continue to take various steps to further improve the operating performance in the coming years as well. The company continued to grow its business in India by about 19% largely due to its brand image and satisfied customers in the market. The Indian general insurance industry is poised for a great expansion in the coming years and New India as the market leader would leverage this for continued better performance.” Officials also said that in the last financial year, claims in Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) rose to around 92% as compared to 75% in previous financial year.