Bharti AXA General Insurance, a private general insurer, has registered a 38 per cent increase in its premium income in the financial year 2019-20.

The Gross Written Premium grew 38 per cent to Rs 3,157 crore, up 38 per cent over Rs 2,285 crore in 2018-19.

This growth was driven by strong show in crop, commercial lines, motor and health insurance, Sanjeev Srinivasan, Managing Director and CEO, Bharti AXA General Insurance, said.

Crop insurance grew 59 per cent to Rs 828 crore (Rs. 519 crore in 2018-19). Commercial lines segment focused on SME and MSME to grow 49 per cent at Rs. 430 crore (Rs. 289 crore).

‘’We have grown much faster than the industry and maintained a steady growth performance across key matrices of the business in the financial year 2019-20. The expansion of the distribution network and partnerships, new business alliances along with improved business activations from the robust bancassurance accompanied by diversified product portfolio helped us achieve healthy premium growth at more than triple of the industry growth rate in the last fiscal,’’ Srinivasan said.

All distribution channels rose significantly, with motor, health and travel fuelling the growth for the retail channel which grew 33 per cent in its revenue to Rs 1,960 crore (Rs 1,472 crore). On the other hand, the corporate channel increased 25 per cent in its revenue to Rs. 368 crore (Rs. 294 crore).

Bancassurance

Bharti AXA General Insurance, which currently distributes through 9 banks and over 50 NBFCs and Cooperative Banks, also added a significant number of distribution partnerships in the financial year 2019-20. ‘’Our continued emphasis on increasing distribution footprint through focus on bancassurance and forging partnerships with Motor Insurance Service Providers has been instrumental in achieving the company’s overall growth in both retail and corporate business,’’ Srinivasan said.

He also said the company stood well capitalized with the solvency ratio at 1.63 as on March 31, 2020, and the shareholders stand fully committed to invest and grow the business.

Covid-19 pandemic

Srinivasan said that the current financial year looks challenging in view of the COVID-19 pandemic and disruptions caused by the nationwide lockdown. Focus on technology and automation of processes has helped the company operate seamlessly as it continue to service its customer and partners remotely, successfully managing business, servicing, surveys and claim settlement. “In 2020-21, we will pursue opportunities across channels with constant emphasis on customer centricity, focus on superior risk selections, prudent cost management, claims efficiency with investments in technologies and innovation to boost all lines of businesses”, he added.

Published on June 15, 2020

A letter from the Editor


Dear Readers,

The coronavirus crisis has changed the world completely in the last few months. All of us have been locked into our homes, economic activity has come to a near standstill. Everyone has been impacted.

Including your favourite business and financial newspaper. Our printing and distribution chains have been severely disrupted across the country, leaving readers without access to newspapers. Newspaper delivery agents have also been unable to service their customers because of multiple restrictions.

In these difficult times, we, at BusinessLine have been working continuously every day so that you are informed about all the developments – whether on the pandemic, on policy responses, or the impact on the world of business and finance. Our team has been working round the clock to keep track of developments so that you – the reader – gets accurate information and actionable insights so that you can protect your jobs, businesses, finances and investments.

We are trying our best to ensure the newspaper reaches your hands every day. We have also ensured that even if your paper is not delivered, you can access BusinessLine in the e-paper format – just as it appears in print. Our website and apps too, are updated every minute, so that you can access the information you want anywhere, anytime.

But all this comes at a heavy cost. As you are aware, the lockdowns have wiped out almost all our entire revenue stream. Sustaining our quality journalism has become extremely challenging. That we have managed so far is thanks to your support. I thank all our subscribers – print and digital – for your support.

I appeal to all or readers to help us navigate these challenging times and help sustain one of the truly independent and credible voices in the world of Indian journalism. Doing so is easy. You can help us enormously simply by subscribing to our digital or e-paper editions. We offer several affordable subscription plans for our website, which includes Portfolio, our investment advisory section that offers rich investment advice from our highly qualified, in-house Research Bureau, the only such team in the Indian newspaper industry.

A little help from you can make a huge difference to the cause of quality journalism!

Support Quality Journalism