Around 15.5 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide are generated every year by 2,000 gigawatts of coal power. The International Energy Agency says emissions need to reach zero by 2040 if temperature rises are to remain within the threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius
The Company has made an investment income of Rs. 1142 Crores during FY 24 as against Rs 920 crores during FY 23.
The assets under management(AUM) stands at Rs 15,550 crores as at 31st March 24 as against Rs 15,900 Crores as at 31st March 23.
Despite paying Rs. 12,353 crores of claims in FY 24 , state owned Agriculture Insurance Company(AIC) has recorded almost a 20 per cent jump in its net profit to Rs 904 crore during the year.
The company’s gross direct premium (GDP) has fallen by 32 per cent to Rs 9,742 crore in FY 23-24 as there was a bit of unhealthy competition leading to a significant price cut to write crop business
WThe AIC (Company) had registered net profit (profit after taxes) of Rs. 904 Crores during FY 24.
Beating its bigger rivals, the multiline general insurers who also do crop insurance, state owned Agriculture Insurance Company(AIC) insurer has registered an underwriting profit of Rs. 91 crores as against Rs. 111 Crores during FY 23.
The insurer’s combined ratio of the insurer has remained positive at 99% during FY 24 as against the 98.31% during FY 23.
AIC’s Incurred claim ratio was at 95.59 % during FY 24 as against 94.35% during FY 23.
The company’s investment income has risen by 25 per cent to Rs. 1142 crores during FY 24 as against Rs 920 Crores during FY 23..
The assets under management of the company stands at Rs 15,550 crores as at 31st March 24 as against Rs 15,900 Crores as at 31st March 23.
“The company has been consistently making underwriting Profit since its inception except couple of years where the claims were high due to widespread catastrophic events.
The top five states where AIC earns maximum premium are:Rajasthan, Maharastra, Madhya Pradesh,Karnataka and Chattisgarh
What about your net profit in FY 24? You had a net profit of Rs 765 crore in FY 23.
Was it for the first time AIC had an underwriting profit in FY 23?
No,
Please provide figures for Combined ratio, Incurred claim ratio, investment income, asset under management for FY 23 and FY 24.
How much premiums you have received under PMSBY and claims you have paid in the scheme? What are your top five states?
and paid claims aggregating to Rs. 12,353 Crores under the scheme.
How do you see the trend in Crop insurance market in FY 24? Are the number of insureds and covered areas growing ? Why the premiums have fallen in FY 24? Will it continue in FY 25?
The PMFBY scheme has undergone some significant changes effective KH 23 season where the scheme has allowed alternate pricing scheme in the form of Surplus sharing Model (SSM 80-110 Model and 60-130 Model) and also implemented mandatory technology based claims assessment which addresses the various concerns of Insurers including Moral hazards involved in the Manual claims assessment which is a welcome move from GOI.
Further GOI has also recommended various state government to universalise the scheme (where either Farmer share is fully or partially subsidised for all Farmers). In addition to Andhra Pradesh State, from Kharif 23 onwards Maharashtra, Odisha has also implemented this. Accordingly, the Number of farmers and Area covered under this scheme this year has increased significantly.
These initiatives from GOI has various implications on Insurers and their Pricing. The various GOI initiatives have encouraged competition who stayed out from CROP insurance back into the scheme as the risk is limited/capped. Combination of these factors has lead to significant reduction in pricing. However, universalisation in some states has marginally increased the overall premium volume though the rates have come down in such states.
PMFBY scheme had suggested all State Governments to have 3 year tender cycle and FY 23 had tenders from all state government post such initiatives. Only few states currently do tenders on Annual basis. Accordingly, the degrowth in premium is one time impact during this eventful year of so many changes. However, with most states continuing the tender cycle, and only few states rolling out new tenders this fiscal, we expect marginal 5% to 8% growth next year in FY 25.
Also some comments on Apr 1 renewals and what are AIC’s major plans for FY 25
For FY 25, the Company expects to grow premium around 5% to 8%. With continued efforts on claim management initiatives, the company is confident of maintaining the healthy claims ratio and confident of making the underwriting surplus.
Post obtaining licenses for allied lines of agriculture business in May 2022, the company has been working on new products across these lines eg for livestock/ aquaculture / sericulture/ parametric products for weather related to specific horticulture crops etc. Currently the company is working on creating a strong distribution network across banks / CSC and also building a intermediary network for selling the various products available. The company registered a premium of Rs. 39 Crores this FY 24 in this vertical and plans to sell around Rs. 150 Crores next year on the strength of digitally enabled products and a new rural focussed distribution network.
More than 800 coal-fired power plants in emerging countries could be decommissioned and profitably replaced by cleaner solar energy starting from the end of the decade, research on Monday showed.
Though only a tenth of existing coal plants are scheduled to shut down by 2030, more could close if efforts are made to identify opportunities, the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) said.
“The key problem here is a lack of a pipeline of well defined, contracted, bankable coal-to-clean transactions,” said Paul Jacobson, lead author of the report.
Around 15.5 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide are generated every year by 2,000 gigawatts of coal power. The International Energy Agency says emissions need to reach zero by 2040 if temperature rises are to remain within the threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius.
But decommissioning is costly, especially if plants are still paying off debt or tied to power purchase agreements (PPAs) that commit them to supplying electricity over decades.
Governments have been looking for solutions to pay for the transition – including the Asian Development Bank’s Energy Transition Mechanism – but only a small number of projects have gone ahead.
The 800 viable transition targets identified by IEEFA include around 600 built thirty years or more ago, many of which have repaid debts and are no longer tied down by lengthy PPAs.
With profit margins for renewables now sufficient to cover the cost of replacing coal plants, decommissioning the remaining 200 plants built between 15 and 30 years ago could also be affordable, though obstacles remain, including fossil fuel subsidies that inflate an asset’s value.
Decommissioning newer plants will be a bigger financial challenge, particularly in countries still building fresh capacity, including Vietnam.
Environmental groups have criticized transition financing for paying polluters not to pollute. Jacobson said “guardrails” were required to avoid creating perverse incentives.
“Companies that continue to build new coal power plants while seeking concessions to build renewable energy should not be allowed to use that to benefit from this,” he said.
Reuters