August 14, 2019
Three public sector insurance companies have dragged down the non-life industry into a INR440m ($6.2m) loss for the financial year ended 31March 2019 (FY2019). National, Oriental and United India reported aggregate losses of INR42bn, which is more than the collective profits of the remaining 23 companies. The reason for the poor performance of the state owned general insurance companies is their huge underwriting loss.
The insurers reported an aggregate underwriting loss of INR184.9bn for FY2019, a 47% increase over FY2018.
The government is considering a merger and a subsequent listing of National, Oriental and United India. However, due to their poor financial performance, they will require capital infusion.