General insurers' premia degrow in September due to decline in crop business

Mumbai, Nov 05 The general insurance industry saw premium de-growth of 3 per cent YoY in September due to decline in crop business.

Private players reported a GWP growth of 5.7 per cent YoY in September, while the industry recorded a de-growth of 2.8 per cent YoY. In the current fiscal so far, private players performed in-line with the industry with a 12.3 per cent YoY growth, says a report by Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd (MOFSL).

Among the key players, Bajaj Allianz, New India, and Star Health reported a strong GWP growth of 8.2 per cent/6.8 per cent/17.9 per cent YoY, whereas ICICI Lombard (ILOM) reported a muted growth of 2.6 per cent YoY.

The Health business grew 17.2 per cent YoY, with Retail/Group Health growing by 1.8 per cent/36.8 per cent. Government schemes saw a sharp decline of 27.4 per cent, while the overseas health segment reported a strong growth of 35 per cent YoY. The share of the Health segment in the overall industry GWP grew by 439bp to 34.1 per cent. Star Alliance Health Insurance (SAHI) reported a GWP growth of 30.1 per cent.

Within SAHIs, the growth of Star Health remained subdued at merely 18 per cent, as against a growth of 53 per cent /51 per cent /33 per cent /22 per cent /16 per cent during Apr/May/Jun/Jul/Aug. This was very much in line with expectations as MOFSL believe that the slowdown in business is on back of limitation of capital (Q1 solvency of 1.65).

The proceeds from the upcoming IPO of Star Health will provide the required capital cushion, helping the company to step back on the growth trajectory. ILOM saw a market share gain of 20bp in the retail health segment, but lost a market share of 340bps in the group health segment during the month. Bajaj Allianz saw a market share gain of 600bps and 250bps in the retail and group health businesses, respectively for September.

The Motor business grew by 0.8 per cent YoY, with Motor OD/TP up 1.8 per cent /-0.1 per cent. The share of the Motor segment in the overall industry GWP declined by 203bp to 27.0 per cent on an FY22YTD basis. All the key players saw a de-growth in the Motor OD segment, with ILOM/Bajaj Allianz/New India declining by 14.9 per cent /2.2 per cent /11.7 per cent, whereas digital players like Acko and Go Digit reported a strong growth of 107.8 per cent and 38.5 per cent, respectively (on a lower base). In the Motor TP segment, while private players saw a decent growth of 6.6 per cent, public players reported a de-growth of 9.8 per cent, pulling down the overall industry's performance.

On an overall basis, the market share of private players remained stable at 48.2 per cent, while public players lost 137bp and SAHI gained 158bp market share. New India had the highest market share of 15.5 per cent, followed by ILOM and United India at 7.9 and 7.0 per cent, respectively.