Page 6 - Insurance Times October 2019

Motor cover renewals New India Assurance Company introduces special drive

see over 50% increase to cover uninsured vehicles
Renewal of vehicle insurance poli- The New India Assurance Company has recently launched special drive for
cies has recently seen an increase of extending insurance cover to all those vehicles
more than 50%. In some cases, which are not insured to provide support to the
growth has surged as much as six ongoing drive launched by the State Traffic law en-
times. “We are experiencing an av- forcing authorities following the amended Motor
erage increase of 3-4 times in insur- Vehicle Act, Jammu Divisional Office of leading
ance renewal enquiries for old ve- Public sector undertaking.
hicles. Consumers are definitely tak- Dr Daleep Pandita, Senior Divisional Manager said, “It is at the initiative of the
ing cognizance of the motor vehicles Regional Head from Chandigarh, who directed all the offices across Himachal
act amendments and wanting to Pradesh, Haryana, UT Chandigarh and Jammu and Kashmir, to create massive
comply with the same. The encour- public awareness for getting their all types of uninsured vehicles insured at their
aging part is to see traffic from both offices through hassle free procedures and with varied discount structures.”
online and offline distribution plat-
forms,” said Sanjay Datta, head (un- “On spot, the officials of the company will also explain its customers the risks
derwriting and claims) at ICICI of plying uninsured vehicles, benefits of insuring vehicles and financial com-
Lombard General Insurance, the pensations in cases of third party losses due to vehicle accidents,” he added.
largest private insurer. Dr Pandita further said that it has remained the motto of company to stand
Sajja Praveen Chowdary, business up at the time of such social causes, specially for the benefit of rural masses
head of motor insurance at of the state, where penetration of insurance is comparatively less due to lack
Policybazaar.com said that of its awareness.
Policybazaar.com has seen its two- The company, under Corporate Social Responsibility, also will be organizing
wheeler policy renewals going up seminars and workshops at various educational institutions, in order to create
from 10,000 per day to 60,000 in large scale awareness among the youth in particular of getting their vehicles
the last one week, while the re- insured for the benefit of society and the nation.
newal run rate among car owners
has gone up by more than 70% from Warburg Pincus sells remaining 2.7 stake ICICI Lombard
3,500 per day to 6,000 per day. “At Warburg Pincus, an American private equity firm has sold its remaining 2.7%
this rate, we expect to hit 1 lakh stake in general insurer ICICI Lombard General
policy renewals per day by the end Insurance Co. Ltd, for Rs 1,378 crore.
of next week,” he added.
The stock exchange stated that Red Bloom In-
“Earlier, out of 100 visitors looking
vestments, through which Warburg Pincus
to renew their policies on our
website, about 60% of two-wheeler held the stake, sold its entire shareholding
customers held an expired policy, comprising of 1.22 crore shares for a price of
while the figure for car customers Rs 1,122.27 a piece. ICICI Lombard’s shares closed the day at Rs 1,128.6 per
was 30%. However, in the last four share, down 4.15% on the BSE.
days, applications from customers The stake sale marked a complete exit from the company for Warburg, which
with expired motor policies went up had invested in ICICI Lombard in 2017, ahead of the insurer’s initial public
at 87% among bike owners and 52% offering.
for cars,” Chowdary said. Warburg had acquired the 9% stake in ICICI Lombard from Fairfax Financial
“With time, we are sure that the Corp. In May 2017, Fairfax sold a 12.18% stake in ICICI Lombard in a pre-IPO
amended motor vehicles act would round to Warburg Pincus and other investors for around $383 million. The
help in converting the large unin- share sale valued the insurance company at Rs 20,500 crore.
sured base in our country,”
In September 2017, ICICI Lombard went public in an IPO that valued the com-
Gurneesh Khurana, head of motor pany at Rs 30,000 crore and saw the company’s two sponsors, ICICI Bank Ltd
business at Bajaj Allianz General In-
and Fairfax, sell shares worth Rs 5,700 crore. The two had set up the insur-
surance, said.
ance firm in 2001.
6 The Insurance Times, October 2019