Page 9 - Insurance Times May 2023

General Insurance premiums see 20% y-o-y growth Aditya Birla set to sell in-
in February surance brokerage busi-
Non-life insurance companies continued their double-digit growth in Febru- ness
ary, with premiums growing 20 per cent year-on-year to Rs. 19,876 crore
Aditya Birla Capital Limited (ABCL), a
led by health and motor insurance. So far in FY23, premiums for the sector
company under the Aditya Birla Group,
have grown 16.9 per cent, compared with 11 per cent for the correspond-
announced the sale of its entire stake
ing period of the previous year.
in Aditya Birla Insurance Brokers Lim-
General Insurers' premiums were up 15.6 per cent year-on-year compared ited (ABIBL), which is a non-material
with 7.7 per cent growth in February 2022. Premium growth for standalone
subsidiary.
private health insurers grew to Rs. 2,320 crore from Rs. 1,829 crore a year
In an exchange filing, the company
ago, but was lower than Rs. 2,560 crore, a month ago.
said, the sale involves the transfer of
The month-on-month growth and for the 11-month period ended February
all 25.65 lakh shares of Rs. 10/- each,
was slower than last year due to normalised growth in the government and
representing 50.002% of the issued
retail health schemes, which had seen significant growth last year, CARE
and paid-up share capital of ABIBL, to
Ratings said in a note.
Edme Services Private Ltd, which is
Private companies reported higher growth of 21.5% compared with PSU part of the Samara Capital Group and
non-life insurers' growth of 17.5 per cent. For the year-to-date, private play- an affiliate of Samara Alternate Invest-
ers grew 2.2 times their PSU peers, taking their market share to 61 per ment Fund. Infocyber India Private Lim-
cent from 59 per cent a year ago.
ited, the other shareholder of ABIBL,
The share of health insurance as a segment improved to 35.2 per cent for will also sell its 49.998% stake in the
the 11-month period, up from 29.4 per cent two years ago. On a yearly company to the Edme Services Private
basis, the segment grew 23.9 per cent, lower than the 25.6 per cent growth Ltd.
seen last year owing to a smaller base.
"The Proposed Transaction is subject to
the approval of IRDAI and other statu-
tory / regulatory approvals and other
claim totaling Rs 1,260.35 crore Insurers may set up pay- conditions under the SPA. As per rea-
through the DigiClaim platform to the sonable estimates, the Proposed Trans-
ments platform for rein-
insured farmers in Rajasthan, Uttar action is expected to be completed
Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, surance biz within 120 to 180 days from the execu-
Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand and
In a bid to facilitate reinsurance pre- tion of the SPA", the statement said.
Haryana with a click of a button, an
miums, commissions, claims and any
official statement said.
other transactions between the in- Shriram General Insurance
In the current system, there have been surer, insurance intermediary and re-
bets big on EVs
several instances of insured farmers' insurance companies, the insurers are
claims being delayed due to a variety looking at setting up a digital payment Shriram General Insurance (SGIC), said
of factors. Taking cognizance of farm- platform for effective management of that its main focus areas in the 2023-
ers' welfare and to expedite the claim their reinsurance business. 24 fiscal is electric vehicle insurance.
disbursal process, the Agriculture Min- This is an initiative by the General in- The firm added that it has already tied
istry has come up with the DigiClaim surance council, which is expecting to up with several original equipment
module, it said. see participation from foreign manufacturers (OEMS) towards this
reinsurers and broker associations. end.
Tomar said: "It is a matter of pride for
our ministry to have taken a revolu- Authorities privy to the matter told ET While the company is closing 2022-23
tionary step in ensuring that farmers Bureau that no insurance firm will hold with a growth of 28-29 per cent in
can receive claim amounts digitally in more than a 6% stake. Although the gross direct premium, it hopes to touch
a time bound and automated manner, developer company may be offered 40 per cent in 2023-24, a senior SGIC
thereby making our farmers around 24% stake in the new entity executive told Business Standard. In
Aatmanirbhar and Sashakt." which will be established. comparison, the industry posted 11 per

The Insurance Times May 2023 9