The first quarter of FY 2017-18 ended on a good note for non-life insurers. The total new business premium collection of the non-life insurance industry has been continuously rising and crossed Rs33,300 crore in the first three months of this fiscal.
IRDAI data shows that 28 general insurance companies posted a growth of 22% in its new business premium collection in Q1 FY 2017-18.
Experts say that the growth in premium collection is due to implementation of GST. “Many people have bought non-life insurance policies to save on taxes. Post July 1, insurance premium of non-life policies went up by 3% due to increase in tax rates under GST,” they add.
Among private players, ICICI Lombard topped the chart by posting the highest business premium income of Rs3,320 crore in this period. While Bajaj Allianz bagged the second place with premium collection of Rs1,963 crore, HDFC Ergo collected premium of Rs1,696 crore in three months. Private non-life insurers collected a total business premium of around Rs15,000 crore in the first quarter of this fiscal.
Business premium of PSU general insurers grew to Rs16,535 crore in this quarter as against Rs14,109 crore in the corresponding period last year. Amongst PSU non-life insurance companies, New India collected the highest premium income of Rs5,671 crore followed by United India that recorded a premium collection of Rs4,270 crore in the first quarter of FY 2017-18.
Six standalone health insurers collected close to Rs1,500 crore in this quarter as against Rs100 crore in the previous quarter of the corresponding period.