April 24, 2019
Public sector general insurance companies are losing market share, in terms of premium income, to their counterparts in the privately held sector.
Data released by the General Insurance Council show that the four public sector insurers — New India Assurance, United India Insurance, National Insurance and Oriental Insurance — had a market share of 42.5% for the fiscal year ended 31 March 2019 (FY2019), as compared to almost 48% for FY2018.
In FY2019, government run general insurers posted premium collection of INR687.2bn ($9.9bn), a 1.37% increase over FY2018. Privately held insurers (excluding standalone health insurers) generated total premium of INR816m in FY2019, an increase of almost 25% over FY2018.
Industry sources attribute the loss in market share to the government’s proposal to merge United India Insurance, National Insurance and Oriental Insurance and solvency issues.