Industry official relates the increase to awareness
about health insurance among customers.
Private general insurers collected a premium
of Rs. 1948 crore, whereas public insurers collected
Rs. 2693 crore as on December 2011 (FY11-12), according
to a data released by IRDA.
Among PSUs, New India Assurance leads the way
with a gross premium collection of Rs. 740 crore, followed by National
Insurance with Rs. 672 crore. United India reported a collection of Rs 648
crore and Oriental Insurance Rs. 472 crore.
In the private sector, ICICI Lombard General
Insurance leads the way with a collection of Rs. 417 crore, followed by Bajaj
Allainz and HDFC ERGO at Rs. 262 crore and Rs. 157 crore respectively.
The industry experts points out that the
increase in awareness about health insurance is a major factor for the
incremental premiums. The three standalone health insurance companies – Star
Health, Apollo Munich and Max Bupa have collectively garnered premiums of Rs. 92
crore for the period that ended in December 2011.