Thursday, December 13, 2012

Future Generali ties up with IFMR Rural Finance

Leading private insurer Future Generali India Insurance, on Tuesday, announced it has tied up with Chennai based firm IFMR (Institute for Financial Management and Research) Rural Finance, to offer its shop insurance products through its Kshetriya Gramin Financial Services (KGFS) license holders.

In a release, Easwara Naraynan, COO, Future Generali India Insurance said, “We have developed a need based Shop Insurance product in partnership with IFMR Rural Finance. The product will be available at all 125 KGFS branches, across Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand and Odisha."

Shop insurance will cover building and its contents against risk of fire, flood, storm, earthquake etc, and the contents of the shop will also be covered against burglary, he said.

“We are keen to see this business model work with efficiency, so that we can replicate it in other rural areas with many more products,“ Naraynan added.

Kshetriya Gramin Financial Services (KGFS) is a network of regional financial institution set up in remote rural parts of India to assist in financial wellbeing of every individual and every enterprise in and around the region. Presently, five KGFS entities offer financial services in different parts of the country.

Future Generali India Insurance is a joint venture between Future Group of India and Generali Group of Italy.

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

India is the world leader in micro insurance: World Bank

India is the world leader in micro-insurance and regulating it from its budding stages and revamping its regulations are a must, said a World Bank expert.

Moseleddin Ahmed, World Bank Consultant on Micro Health Insurance and Regulations, at a function held in Madurai said, “People need to be sensitized to the facility in order to alleviate poverty." The occasion was a workshop on International Advanced Reflective Education on Training on Micro Insurance organised by Dhan Foundation along with German Development Cooperation (GIZ) in the city.

The three-day course is being attended by officials from various insurance companies, both public sector and private, NGOs, community organisations, farmers' federations and women self help groups. Experts from the Netherlands like Ryan Florijn, senior executive, Achmea Health Insurance, Karlijn Morsink from the University of Twente were also present on the occasion.

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Non-life insurers' premium income grows 19% in first half

As a result of increase in premium rates and pick up in health insurance, non-life insurance segment has registered a 19.4% increase in gross premium income in the first six month of the FY' 2012.

As per the data received from the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA), the non-life insurance industry collected a gross premium income of Rs 39,453 crore in the first half against Rs 33,041 crore in the same period last year.

The private sector insurers performed better than the state-run insurers. The four state-run non-life insurers collected Rs 22,802 crore, registering an increase of 17.83%. Whereas; the private insurers have collected Rs 16,650 crore, a 21.62% growth.

The CEO of a large private insurance firm said, “Premium on fire and property insurance has gone up by 10-15%, contributing to the increase in premium collection." SBI General Insurance registered significant premium growth of 206.69% during the period. Whereas; private sector insurer ICICI Lombard reported by 15.78%.

Stand alone health insurer- Star Health & Allied Insurance was the only company to register a drop in premium income of 40.9%.