Optima Insurance Brokers Pvt. Ltd.

The health insurance sector in India maintains robust growth with total premiums expanding by 17 per cent in the 2012-13 financial year compared with the previous fiscal year. The total health insurance premiums collected by non-life insurers in 2012-13 stood at INR157 billion (US$2.5 billion) compared with INR134.7 billion in 2011-12, on the back of strong demand.

Health insurance has grown at double digit figures for the past five years, although the growth rate has receded considerably from the high level witnessed during the period from 2006-07 to 2010-11, says the latest annual report of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA).

The country’s four public sector insurers continue to dominate the segment with their combined share of total health insurance premiums standing at 61 percent for the 2012-13 fiscal year. Private non-life insurers accounted for 28 percent, while the rest was contributed by four standalone health private insurers.

Medical insurance accounted for 22.2 percent of total non-life insurance premiums in 2012-13, more than double the 10.9-percent share in 2005-06.

Families of the workers who died in the Cooling Tower blast in Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL), Visakha Refinery, on August 23 last year received compensation cheques of Rs 20 lakh each today.

Out of 28 workers who perished in the mishap one was an employee of HPCL and the rest were contract workers.

Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Panabaka Lakshmi distributed the cheques to the families. She claimed that nowhere in the country such a big amount was given to contract workers as compensation.

Though initially they had decided to give around Rs three to four lakh as compensation but local elected representatives demanded more amount and finally it was settled at Rs 20 lakh, she said.

Senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha Member T Subbarami Reddy demanded job in the refinery to a family member of the victims.

Ports and Infrastructure Minister Ganta Srinivas Rao lamented at the poor safety standards being maintained in the industries here whereas there were very less industry mishaps in Hyderabad which had more industrial units compared to Vizag.

He suggested regular safety audit of all the local industries to prevent such accidents.

HPCL Visakh Refinery Executive Director V V Narasimham termed the mishap as the rarest incident in the entire oil and gas industry in the world and said they had adapted the slogan no safety no job for the benefit of the workers.

Reliance General and Royal Sundaram were the only two private sector general insurance companies that witnessed decline in market share during 2012-13, says regulator IRDA. At a time when the market share of 17 private non-life insurance companies rose from 42.2 percent to 44.39 percent, Reliance General’s business slipped from 3.24 percent to 3.19 percent in 2012-13. Similarly, market share of Royal Sundaram Alliance Insurance witnessed a decline from 2.8 percent in 2011-12 to 2.48 percent in the last financial year, said the annual report of Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority. However, both Reliance and Royal Sundaram reported jump in total premium realisation to Rs 2,010.01 crore and Rs 1,560 crore, respectively. ICICI Lombard General Insurance, leading private insurer, maintained its market share at 9.74 percent in the last fiscal.

Another major insurer Bajaj Allianz General Insurance showed improvement in operations by capturing 6.35 percent of total business as against 6.22 percent in 2011-12. Other private players including IFFCO Tokio, Tata AIG, HDFC Ergo, Cholamandalam MS and Bharti AXA, too witnessed increase their market shares. The increase in private sector business of non-life insurance comes at the cost of four state-owned companies as their market share declined from 57.8 percent to 55.61 percent in 2012-13 year-on-year despite increase in premium collection. Among the public sector companies, share of National Insurance dipped to 14.56 percent (from 14.73 percent), New India to 15.94 percent (16.16 percent), Oriental Insurance to 10.41 percent (11.44 percent) and United India to 14.71 percent (15.47 percent).