With the rise in premium growth due to the conducive economic environment of the country, New Delhi City has been rated as number one in general insurance density or per capita general insurance premium with the highest penetration of 1.34 per cent, according the data by General Insurance Council (GIC) on insurance penetration or percentage of population covered in the country during 2013-14.
“According to the data, not only Delhi state but also many other states have started producing premium due to its economic growth, high literacy and more car-owning young masses opting for motor and health insurance schemes. As far as per capita term is concerned, Delhi has done well in premium collections and stood number one in the country,” GIC Secretary General R Chandrasekaran told The Pioneer.
Insurers also feel that the recently launched Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) will also help increase non-life insurance penetration in the country. “PMSBY will certainly help increase insurance penetration as the banks and insurers have joined hands for the same,” Universal Sompo General Insurance Executive Chairman ON Singh said.
According to data from GIC, the top five general insurance markets in terms of gross premium are Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Karnataka and New Delhi. The data said that New Delhi, with a relative smaller population of 1.68 crore and 315 offices, had mobilised premium of around Rs5,000 crore and has got the highest insurance penetration of 1.34 per cent and density of Rs3,228 in 2013-14.
Maharashtra, it said, came second followed by Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat in terms of insurance penetration percentage. Maharashtra having around 1,100 offices, had mobilised a total premium of Rs17,774 crore in 2013-14 and per capita premium is pegged at Rs1,600 while insurance penetration is at 1.13 per cent during the year.
Karnataka, with a total premium of Rs5,698 crore and 612 offices, has been ranked at third position in terms of density in 2013-14. It had an insurance penetration of Rs932 and density of 0.96 per cent in the reporting period. Tamil Nadu, with around 1,200 offices has the largest number of general insurance offices in the country.
“The state had generated Rs 7,538 crore of premium and has insurance penetration of 0.90 per cent and density of Rs1,050 in 2013-14,” it said, adding that traditionally, Maharashtra has been the highest premium producing state, mainly as Mumbai being the financial capital of the country.
For the Gujarat market, the state had 580 offices with a premium income of Rs5,020 crore and had an insurance penetration of 0.76 per cent and density of Rs775 in 2013-14. However, the general insurers are now diversifying into other parts of the country to grow their business.
“Now, we are focusing on northern and eastern parts of the country. large states like West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh are some of the other potential areas in the country for insurance coverage,” New India Assurance (NIA) General Manager and Director Sanath Kumar said. “We have plans to open 500 new offices during the current fiscal and a majority of them are likely to come up in these parts of the country,” he added.
“Even as we are focusing on Class A and B cities, but we are also looking at some rural areas. However, we plan to go to rural areas by sending our representatives to those areas, rather than having brick and mortar branches over there,” Tata AIG General Insurance Chief Executive KK Mishra said.