Girija Subramanian, CMD, NIA, said, “It gives me immense satisfaction that the operating metrics have improved, with loss ratio as well as combined ratio being lower than the same period last year with profit after tax showing a 5x increase. While the premium growth in the first half has been muted, it was a conscious decision to focus on lines with better profitability which led to the company letting go of a few large renewals where premiums were inadequate. The company expects profitability trend to improve in the coming quarters.”
Mumbai: With a net profit of Rs 71 crore, New India Assurance(NIA), the country’s largest multinational general insurer, on Wednesday, returned to black in the second quarter ended September 2024.
The state owned general insurer had booked a net loss of Rs 200 crore in the year-ago period.
NIA’s board met on Wednesday to finalise its Q2FY25 results.
The company had seen its gross premium rising to Rs 9,701 crore in Q2FY25 from Rs 9,490 crore in corresponding period of the previous fiscal.
Commenting on the results, Girija Subramanian, CMD, NIA, said, “It gives me immense satisfaction that the operating metrics have improved, with loss ratio as well as combined ratio being lower than the same period last year with profit after tax showing a 5x increase. While the premium growth in the first half has been muted, it was a conscious decision to focus on lines with better profitability which led to the company letting go of a few large renewals where premiums were inadequate. The company expects profitability trend to improve in the coming quarters.”
The loss ratio of Health line of business has witnessed some improvement but the loss ratio in Motor line of business increased due to lack of price increase in the Motor Third Party line of business, explained Subramanian.
“The competitive intensity in traditional lines remain high and the company will focus on other segments and channels to drive growth.
The insurer’s investment income in Q2FY 25 has slightly fallen to Rs 2206 crore from 2299 crore the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.
NIA’s net catastrophic losses in HI FY25 was Rs248 crore. Its solvency ratio is at 1.81 times, higher than 1.70 in Q2FY24.
The company has an underwriting losses of around Rs 2000 crore in the reporting period as compared to Rs 2,392 crore in Q4 FY24.
The combined ratio of the insurer has improved from 129.73 per cent in Q2FY24 to 125.17 per cent in Q2FY25.
The incurred claim ratio(ICR) of the company has also become better at 101.12 per cent in Q2FY25 from 105.40 per cent in Q2 FY25.
Except in Aviation and Miscellaneous, the company had underwriting losses in the rest of portfolios like Fire, Health, Motor and Crop.