State-owned Oriental Insurance hopes to become profitable by the end of the current financial year which ends on 31 March 2024 (FY2024).
Due to cost control measures, the insurer’s combined ratio fell to 119% in the six months to 30 September from 163% in the half year ended in March 2023, reported Business Standard.
The non-life insurer narrowed its losses to INR471.2m crore in the first half of FY2024 from INR35.87bn in the corresponding period a year ago. However, Oriental Insurance said that the figures are not comparable because it paid wage revision arrears totalling INR23bn in 1H2023. Excluding the amount, the company had incurred a loss of almost INR13bn” said Mr R R Singh, the chairman and managing director of Oriental Insurance.
The company expects premiums to reach INR180bn ($2.2bn) for FY2024, but the management said that it will not be at the cost of profitability. For the first half of FY2024, the company posted premiums totalling INR92.65bn, representing year-on-year growth of 15%.
Mr Singh added, “If the trend continues and if there are no catastrophic losses, hopefully by the end of the financial year, we may generate some profit.”
Last year, the Finance Ministry last year asked three unlisted state-owned general insurers, including Oriental Insurance, to chase the bottomline rather than topline and underwrite only good proposals.
