General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC Re) has posted a 7.9 per cent growth in consolidated gross premium income of Rs 45,611.32 crore in 2018-19 against Rs 42,271.41 crore in the previous year.
The reinsurance firm posted a net profit of Rs 2,757.57 crore during the year, lower than Rs 3,145.54 crore in the previous year, on account of high taxes.
The government owned firm revised premium rates in March 2019 for eight sectors under vatious property classes, including thermal power plants, textiles, pharma and steel. GIC expects reinsurance premium to touch Rs 70,000 crore by 2022.
The company has seen its incurred claims ratio rise to 88.8 per cent in 2018-19 from 86.5 per cent a year ago.
“The year 2018 witnessed the second consecutive year of record catastrophe losses globally. This has resulted in hardening in some geographies based on account experience,” said GIC Re in a statement.
The reinsurer, however, remains bullish on India.
“Spurred by government initiatives such as PMFBY, crop insurance is the third largest line of non-life insurance after motor and health insurance. With Aayushman Bharat now operational, GIC Re can be expected to benefit from the emerging opportunities in the health segment,” the company said.
Growth in the group’s networth was 3.65 per cent at Rs 54,972.04 crore against Rs 53,037.70 crore in the previous year. The solvency ratio increased to 2.06 per cent as of March 31, 2019 compared with 1.72 per cent a year ago.
The board of GIC Re has proposed a dividend of Rs 6.75 per equity share of face value Rs 5 for 2018-19. At Rs 226.40, GIC Re scrips were marginally up by 0.07 per cent over Wednesday’s close on the BSE.
