Atul Sahai, CMD, New India Assurance

Atul Sahai, the outgoing CMD of NIA, said,“ The company is focused on pursuing profitable growth and has been performing exceedingly well in recent times. But Covid-Pandemic claims worth Rs 866 crore impacted the bottom line during the quarter. The company looks forward to better performance in the ensuing quarters.”

Sahai,after taking  over the reins of the company in Dec 2018, has led NIA in challenging times. Under his leadership, with market share of 15.82 per cent,the gross written premium of the profitable company has steadily increased from Rs 28,017 crore in Fy 2018-19 to Rs 33,046 crore in FY 21 and it remains at the top of Indian insurance chart

Mumbai:

New India Assurance(NIA), the country’s largest non-life insurer, has recorded a net profit of Rs 493 crore during the quarter ended December 2021, despite paying a huge Covid pandemic claims of Rs 866 crore during the period.

The multinational general insurer, which announced its third quarter(FY2022) results on Friday, had a net profit of Rs 523 crore in the year-ago period.

NIA had maintained its market leadership position by mobilising a total premium of Rs 9,127 crore, up 16 per cent year on year(y-o-y) during the reporting quarter.

Industry analysts point out that despite severe Covid-19  disruption and amidst intense competition in the industry, the company had not only maintained pole position in the industry also managed expand its market share to 15.82 per cent, highest ever recorded in the company’s history after the Indian insurance industry was opened up for the private sector competition.

The insurer’s underwriting losses have gone up by 13 per cent y-o-y to Rs 8,767 crore during the third quarter ended December 2021. NIA’s combined ratio during the reporting quarter was marginally higher at 118.69 per cent as compared to 116.82 in the year-ago period.

Any CR of over 100 indicates that the insurer has paid more claims over its mobilised premium.

Commenting on the results, Atul Sahai, chairman & managing director, NIA, said,“ The company is focused on pursuing profitable growth and has been performing exceedingly well in recent times. But Covid-Pandemic claims worth Rs 866 impacted the bottom line during the quarter. The profit has however considerably improved sequentially compared to Rs 127 crore in the previous quarter. With the impact of third wave not expected to be as severe as the second wave the company looks forward to better performance in the ensuing quarters.”

The company has pushed through a lot of initiatives to clean up balance sheet , ensure adequacy of provisions and improve the quality of accounts significantly, said Sahay.

Incidentally, Sahai is calling it a day in February end.

“I feel privileged to have led an organization that grew stronger through the pandemic and I am certain NIA will continue to scale ever greater heights under future leadership. The solvency ratio has slipped below 2x for the last two quarters but let me assure you this is minor blip due to way in which the solvency ratio is calculated and it will soon be restored to 2x in the near future. The competitive scenario remains intense and I am sure NIA employees will continue to rise to the occasion and lead the company  into stronger and prosperous tomorrow,’’ said Sahai in a message to NIA’s employees.

When the public sector general insurers are facing survival threats and are being questioned for being uncompetitive as they are steadily losing its market share to over two dozens of  private sector insurers, Sahai, after taking over the reins of NIA in Dec 2018,has led the company challenging times and has uniquely ensured the growth of company’s top line and bottom line, said industry observers.

Under his leadership, the gross written premium of the company has steadily increased from Rs 28,017 crore in Fy 2018-19 to Rs 33,046 crore in FY 21.

NIA managed to grow premium even in FY 2020-21 when the country was ravaged by the pandemic and economic activities virtually came to a stand still leading to a negative growth for most of the general insurer, said industry analysts.

Under Sahai’s tenure, despite intense competition, NIA increased its market share from 14.06 per cent in March 2019 to 15.82 per cent in Dec 2021-21. NIA’s balance sheet also strengthened significantly with the company’s net-worth increasing from Rs 15,945 crore in March 2019 Rs  Rs 18,610 crore in Dec 2022.

The company has about Rs 20,000 crore worth of fair value change reserves as Dec 2021.