Gross written premium for the non-life insurance sector grew 13.82% year-on-year in July, the slowest pace so far during this financial year, thanks to around 60% year-on-year decline in premium for Agriculture Insurance Company of India.
The sector‘s gross written premium increased to Rs 26,629.35 crore in July, from Rs 23,395.34 crore in the same month last year, according to data released by the General Insurance Council on Monday.
Significantly, the monthly growth rate for the sector, excluding the two specialised insurers – Agriculture Insurance Company of India (AIC) and ECGC – stood at 18.87%. AIC’s gross written premium witnessed a 59.06% YoY decline to Rs 611.46 crore, from Rs 1,493.68 crore in the year-ago period. AIC garners around 50% market share in the crop insurance space.
Premium underwritten by general insurance companies posted an increase of 18.31% YoY to Rs 23,259.23 crore, against Rs 19,660.35 crore for the same period last year. Premium for standalone health insurers increased 24.06% to Rs 2,665.29 crore, from Rs 2,148.43 crore in July last year.
PSU insurer New India Assurance, the market leader in the non-life insurance space, saw an 8.88% YoY increase in its premium underwritten to Rs 3,254.69 crore while for United India Insurance, premium was up 14.04% to Rs 2,053.58 crore.
Among major general insurers in the private sector, premium for ICICI Lombard General Insurance grew 22.91% to Rs 2,389.31 crore, while Bajaj Allianz General Insurance posted a growth of 50.74% to Rs 3761.56 crore. HDFC Ergo and SBI General Insurance witnessed their premium grow 4.26% and 61.38% to Rs 1,209.9 crore and Rs 1,098.8 crore, respectively. For Tata AIG General Insurance, gross written premium rose 10.66% to Rs 1,276.75 crore during July, data released by the General Insurance Council showed.
Gross written premium for non-life insurance companies grew 17.94% year-on-year to Rs 64,262.82 crore for the first four months of this financial year.
