Star Health fared better than the industry, reporting a 10 per cent growth in retail health.
Mumbai:The non-life industry reported a 3 per cent yoy decline in gross written premium (GWP), at Rs 21,747 crore driven by weakness in
commercial lines, muted growth in motor and retail health and revised accounting rules. Commercial lines (fire, marine, aviation and
liability) reported 5-19 per cent year on year decline in Gross written premium. Motor and retail health premium growth was muted at 3
per cent (Rs 8524 crore) and 6 per cent yoy (Rs 4169 crore), respectively. The 1/n accounting rule has likely led to optically low
growth in the retail health segment; like-to-like growth is likely to be in the mid-teens, with some sequential moderation in February 2025.
For April to February 2025, the GWP grew 7 per cent to Rs 2.8 lakh crore.Last fiscal during the same period the industry had reported a 12.6
per cent growth.
Effective October 1, the revised IRDAI rules mandate insurers spread long-term policy premiums over the entire policy duration instead of
booking the full amount upfront. This change is expected to impact the Gross Written Premium (GWP) calculations of non-life insurers.
Public sector general insurers namely New India Assurance, Oriental Insurance, National Insurance and United India maintained their
overall market share at 31 per cent and expanded their market share in key retail segments such as motor (up to 32 per cent in February 2025
from 28 per cent last year). Private non-life insurers lagged public sector insurers and standalone health insurers (up 8 per cent yoy),
reporting a 5 per cent yoy decline in GWP.
“While the overall motor premium growth was muted at 3 per cent yoy during the month, public sector general insurers were up 15 per cent
year on year, unlisted players such as Shriram (up 23 per cent yoy) and Tata AIG (up 21 per cent yoy) fared better. This may indicate
sustained pricing pressure in the segment, despite a push from the regulator to meet expenses of management norms,” said Kotak
Institutional Equities in its report.
Star Health fared better than the industry, reporting a 10 per cent growth in retail health. ICICI Lombard and Bajaj Allianz reported a
1-9 per cent decline in premiums due to weakness in the motor and commercial lines.
