General insurers see 8% premium growth for Apr-Sep,Pvt cos grew by 5%, public sector firms see 10% rise

Blame it on the intense discounting of prices and the general downturn in the current year. Private general insurance companies have grown by a low 5% in the first six months of the current fiscal, as against a 20% in the same period last year. All the top-end players barring a couple have shown sharp declines in half-year growth. The Insurance Regulatory & Development Authority's (Irda) data on gross premium underwritten for the first six months of 2009-10 showed that the 13 non-life private sector players together garnered a premium of Rs 6829.60 crore at the end of September 30, 2009. Overall industry growth stood at 8% on the back of public sector firms, which grew by 10% between April-September. Among the top players in the private pack, Reliance General grew by 6% at a premium of Rs 1045.56 crore and Iffco Tokio with a 5% growth. Royal Sundaram clocked a premium of Rs 438.30 crore with a 13% growth in the first half of the year. ICICI Lombard General Insurance and Bajaj Allianz suffered dents in growth by 16% and 14%, respectively. Among nationalised firms, United India registering the highest growth at 18% at a premium at Rs 2463.22 crore. This was followed by Oriental Insurance and New India at 15% and 9% respectively. National Insurance grew by 1% during the period.