Private general insurers market share inch up to 44 per cent in FY14

Mumbai: Private sector general insurers gained their combined market share to 44 per cent in FY14 despite the depressed economic scenario, at the cost of the state-owned insurers, show the data from the regulator IRDA. Private sector general insurers had a combined market share in terms of gross premium collection at 44 per cent in FY14, up from 42.77 per cent, while public sector companies' share declined to 55.84 per cent, from 57.04 per cent, according to the data.

Some of the private sector non-life insurers, who gained market share during the year include Bajaj Allianz, HDFC Ergo, SBI General, Reliance General and Bharti Axa. "The combined ratio which determines the profitability is a crucial parameter to be monitored among the race for market share. Bajaj Allianz, due to its prudent underwriting discipline, managed a combined ratio of 98.1 per cent in FY14 whereas for the industry it is over 110 per cent", said Tapan Singhel , Bajaj Allianz General Insurance MD & CEO.

"Bajaj Allianz GI has a consistent track record of growing above the industry and has achieved one of the lowest ratios of cost to net written premium without giving up its focus on growth in number of customers as well as premiums written. "Our profit before tax grew by 39 per cent at Rs 587 crore in FY14 as against Rs 422 crore in the previous year," he added. "The industry is going through a difficult time, but we relied on diversified growth on the back of segments like health and weather insurance, which has improved our market share," Reliance General Insurance CEO Rakesh Jain said.

Reliance General Insurance's market share grew to 3.08 per cent from 2.91 per cent a year ago. However, private sector leader ICICI Lombard lost market share marginally to 8.84 per cent from 8.88 per cent during the previous year. Other private-sector general insurers that were the losers include Royal Sundaram, Tata AIG, Universal Sompo and Shriram General.