Page 5 - Insurance Times May 2022

General Insurance

News

Madhulika Bhaskar ap- Bajaj Allianz extends ten- The implication of the lower claim ra-
tio is seen to help bring back interest
pointed as acting chief of ure of MD, CEO Singhel for of private insurers in the crop insurance

New India 5 more years business.
The Government has appointed Bajaj Allianz General Insurance, has Against the Rs. 31,675 crore gross pre-
Madhulika Bhaskar, General Man- extended the tenure of Tapan Singhel, mium collected, the reported claims
ager at General Insurance Corpora- the current Managing Director & Chief stand at Rs. 19,197 crore as on March
tion (GIC Re), as acting chief of New Executive Officer (MD&CEO) of the 31 for 2020-21 kharif and rabi seasons.
India Assurance. company, by another five years, effec- However, the claims ratio is 106 per
tive April 1, 2022.
"The posting is reckoned against the cent in Madhya Pradesh where the
vacant post of chairman & MD at Singhel has already completed 10 years Agriculture Insurance Company (AIC)
New India Assurance for the pur- as the MD & CEO of the company. had to pay out Rs. 7,494.2 crore
pose of drawing her salary on the Under Singhel, the company has against gross premium of Rs. 7,064.4
same terms and conditions of service achieved a cumulative underwriting crore. In Haryana, the claims ratio is
as currently applicable to her," the profit of over Rs 350 crore, grew its higher than national average at 86.2
order said. The chairman position in revenue at a compounded annual per cent (claims Rs. 1,127.5 crore)
New India has been vacant since growth rate (CAGR) of 16 per cent, net while it is 64.4 per cent (Rs. 4,092.4
March 1 after former chairman profit at a CAGR of above 30 per cent, crore) in Rajasthan and 60.6 per cent
AtulSahai retired. (Rs. 887 crore) in Chhattisgarh. On the
the company said.
Earlier, IRDAI had objected to the other hand, Uttar Pradesh has 31 per
government's move to give additional Claims ratio of Fasal Bima cent ( Rs. 500.8 crore), Tamil Nadu 60
charge to Oriental Insurance chairper- per cent (Rs. 1,887.2 crore), Odisha
son as interim head of New India as- scheme dips to 61% in 39.1 per cent (Rs. 562 crore),
surance. The regulator had cited Sec- 2020-21 Maharashtra 21.3 per cent (Rs.
tion 203 of the Companies Act, which 1,382.7 crore) and Karnataka 46.2 per
prevents a manager from serving a Claims to premium ratio under cent (Rs. 959 crore).
whole-time position in two companies. Pradhan MantriFasalBimaYojana At least four private insurers including
(PMFBY) and other crop insurance
The government's earlier practice scheme were around 61 per cent in ICICI Lombard General Insurance and
of using the Banks Board Bureau to 2020-21 as against 85 per cent in 2019- Tata AIG had exited the crop insurance
identify candidates for the insur- 20, as a favourable weather lowered business due to losses and high re-in-
ance sector had suffered a setback crop damages in most of major produc- surance costs.
after the Delhi high court said that ing States, except Madhya Pradesh, Even public sector insurers are reduc-
BBB was not authorised to make
according to latest data compiled by ing their exposure to crop insurance as
selections for the insurance sector.
the Agriculture Ministry. a result burden is gradually shifting to
The Insurance Times, May 2022 5