National Insurance looks to grow by 12 percent in 2016-17

Kolkata, May 26 (IANS) State-run general insurer National Insurance Company said on Thursday that is looking to grow its premium income by 12 percent in the current fiscal.

"We are looking to grow by 12 percent in our premium income in the current fiscal as we have been strengthening our distribution channel and focusing on corporate business," said its chairman-cum-managing director K. Sanath Kumar.

He said the company would like to grow at par with the industry growth rate this fiscal and would target to grow by 15 percent in 2017-18.

"In 2015-16, we grew by 6.8 percent in our premium income while industry grew by 12-13 percent. Last year was a subdued year in terms of growth due to reduction in income from motor premium," he said.

Sanath Kumar said that the insurer has about 46,000 agents at present and it would add 15,000 by this fiscal. It has tied up with 20 banks to sell its products.

The city-based insurer which has a market share of 13.1 percent also focuses to increase corporate business exposure.

"Corporate business contributes about 30 percent to our income while retail contributes 70 percent. In the next three years, we will take the corporate business to 45 percent," he said.

The company's profit is expected to be lower in 2015-16 as compared to previous year due to increase in claims and adverse impact of Chennai floods, in which it had incurred a net loss of Rs.80 crore while industry loss were to the tune of Rs.5,000 crore.

Four government-owned general insurers including National Insurance are in a process to be listed in the stock exchanges.

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had announced in this y budget that public general insurance companies would be listed in the stock exchanges to promote transparency and accountability.

"All the four public general insurers are working for the listing. The government will take a call whether it will be through initial public offering (IPO) or strategic divestment or listing," he said.

"At least one or two public general insurers are expected to be listed in the current fiscal. We are also in the process of listing. Usually, it takes about 9-10 months to complete the listing process," he said, adding the his ministry is forming a group to look into the process.