Kochi: The slowdown in the sales of automobiles sector has hit the motor vehicle insurance in the country with leading insurance firm such as New India Assurance Company Ltd (NIA) registering a six percent decline during the first quarter of 2019-20 compared with the same period a year ago.
Speaking to reporters in Kochi on Saturday Atul Sahai Chairman and Manging Director of NIA said he hoped a turnaround in the sector in the next three mon-ths. Notwithstanding the slowdown the company managed to register a 16 percent growth in the Q1 with good performance in fire, marine, aviation and engineering sectors.
Speaking about the catastrophic events (CAT events) taking a toll on the insurance sector in general Mr. Sahai said the government is in the processing of devising specific plans to address the issue. The financial year 2019 has been challenging year for the company with CAT events claiming total outflow of `740 cr for the company.
The company has ended the last fiscal with profit after tax of Rs 580 crore while global gross written premium stood at Rs 28,017 cr.
