Healthy Growth Figures for both Life and General Insurers in India

The first half of this financial year (April 2012– September 2012) has registered growth for both life and general insurance companies. As compared to the same period last year, Life insurance companies have registered a growth of 11.2 % in new business premium collection while non-life insurance premium collection grew by 24.70%. The total collection for life insurance companies stood at Rs 26,889 crore while that of non life premium totaled at Rs 34001 crore.

The growth in the life insurers was primarily driven by individual regular premium policies which showed a growth of 21% during April 2012 – September 2012 as compared to April 2011 – September 2011. On the other hand single premium policies registered a negative growth of 9.6% for the same period, the possible reason being these policies are less attractive to prevalent tax exemptions.  The frontrunner in premium collection is once again Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC). The premium collected by LIC helped to boost the overall figures in the life category while the private players suffered a negative of 13.7%. Among the 23 private life insurers only six insurers managed to show an increase in premium collection.

On the other hand the non life insurance category had a completely different story with the private players faring better than the four state owned general insurance companies. General Insurance companies like Max Bupa Health Insurance, Bharti Axa General Insurance and HDFC Ergo witnessed a healthy growth of 65%, 48% and 40% respectively for the period under consideration. Star Health and Allied Insurance was the only private general insurance firm to report a decline of 38% in premium.



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What the Insurers Need

The insurance business in India has come a long way since the Insurance Act of 1938. Some of the key milestones in this sector since independence of India would be the merging of all life insurance companies to form Life Insurance Company of India (LIC) in 1956, the merging of all general insurance companies to form four General Insurance Companies (National Insurance, New India Assurance, Oriental Insurance and United India Insurance) and the deregulation of the Insurance Sector in 1999 allowing foreign players to operate in the market. So is this market movement from monopoly to oligopoly really proving to be worthwhile for the Insurance Companies?

The ironclad regulations thrown by IRDA from time to time, economic and political pressures and tough competition has made it difficult for the insurance companies, especially the private players, to make any meaningful business out of it. This year we have already witnessed the exit of New York Life Insurance from Max India Limited. Others following suit might be ING and HSBC. Future group also plans to sever its ties with Generali while DLF wants to exit its tie up with Pramerica. Nine of the 23 private sector life insurers, including units of HSBC, Italy's Generali and Dutch life insurer Aegon, lost money in the year ended in March. The joint venture between France’s Axa and Bharti Enterprises, owner of India’s biggest cellular carrier, has never made money. 

So to revive and attract more investors and foreign partners certain flexibility must be introduced so that the insurers would be able to compete for higher margin and aim for higher penetration. Currently the penetration is only 4.4% in India against 8% in Japan and 9.5% in Britain. Business margin for India is also around 10-15% against 20-25% in China and 30% in Hong Kong.  A helping hand would be the recent proposed hike of FDI cap to 49%. It must be allowed to pass without any political mess up. Additionally the IRDA must have a more benevolent approach towards private players. Because of strict regulations, insurance products are mostly similar and hence competition is high. Without the option of product differentiation margins for insurers would continue to be meager. 

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Motor Insurance India registers 22% growth this quarter

Motor Insurance India has had a shining last quarter as they registered a 22% growth in the topline with a total premium collected being Rs 14,046 crore. This is a direct result of IRDA allowing insurance companies to hike premium on third party cover by 10% for cars and upto 65% for commercial vehicles from April 2011, For the same period last year, the premium collected was Rs 11, 478 crore. The premium collected in the third party cover went up to Rs 2.043 crore compared to Rs 1467 crore (a whopping 39.2% increase).

In India third party insurance is mandatory for all commercial vehicles. Hence another reason for this topline growth can be ascribed to the rising number of new vehicles on the Indian roads. However with the recent hike in the interest rates by RBI, it is reported that demand for cars have dropped and ever since the car manufacturers are introducing attractive schemes to boost sales.

In times of these decreasing motor demands, it remains to be seen whether the motor insurance sector can sustain this growth they achieved this quarter.


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