India's GIC Re premium income jumps 82% YOY in 2016-17 financial year

General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC Re), the national reinsurer, has achieved a growth in premium income of 82.2 per cent during the 2016-17 financial year.

During the period, the corporation wrote a gross global premium of $5.18 billion, an increase of 82.2 percent over the previous year. The premium split between the domestic and the overseas business during 2016-17 was 69 percent and 31 percent respectively.

GIC Re also reported a lower combined ratio of 99.7 percent in the year 2016-17 as compared to 107.4 percent in the previous year. The corporation’s profit before tax during the period was $558.8 million, a 22 percent increase over the previous year. Profit after tax was $482.2 million, up 10 percent year on year.

The company has proposed a dividend amounting to $154.5 million for the year 2016-17, up 17 percent compared to the previous year.

The corporation’s agriculture reinsurance business performed particularly well.

A new crop insurance scheme referred to as Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) has been a game-changer for the crop insurance segment in the country, according to the company. GIC Re leads the agriculture treaties of 15 of 18 insurance companies. With industry premiums of over $3.1 billion, the agriculture premium has become three times of what it was under the previous National Agriculture Insurance Scheme (NAIS).

PMFBY is distinct from earlier schemes in the sense that it not only takes the number of insured farmers to a higher level, from 20 percent earlier to the estimated 50 percent target over three year period, but it also provides more insurance coverage to farmers.

GIC booked a premium of $1.5 billion from the agri segment.

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