June 21, 2017
In 2000, the private companies were allowed in insurance sector and at present there are 31 general insurance companies in the private sector. There are four state owned companies, viz. New India Assurance, United India Insurance, Oriental Insurance and National Insurance.
For the first time in over one and half decade privately held general insurers have overtaken state owned insurers in market share in April. Private insurers captured 51.63% of the general insurance market and the public sector managed 48.37% in April as reported by Press Trust of India.
In terms of gross written premium (GWP), general insurance industry grew by 16 per cent to Rs.12,206 crores on April 30, 2017. In April, the four government owned general insurers saw their GWP grow by 5.42% to Rs.5,904 crores while the private sector expanded GWP by 27.88% to Rs.6,302 crores, according to data available with Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI).
Also, the market share in PSU general insurers is showing a declining trend from the last three years. The market share of PSU insurers come down from 55.09 per cent in FY15 to 53.21 per cent in FY 17 whereas growth in private players rose from 44.91 per cent FY15 to 46.79 per cent in FY17.
The growth in the industry for the fiscal year2017 has been mainly due to increase in crop insurance segment where the private players have shown an increase of more than Rs.400 crores, compared to the insignificant growth for government owned insurers.