The Hindu Business Line : Cholamandalam MS posts Rs 97-crore premium

CHOLAMANDALAM MS General Insurance Company earned a premium income of Rs 97 crore in 2003-04, its first full year of operations. Most of the company's business was booked in motor and fire insurance.

Mr Arun Agarwal, Chief Executive of the company, said 38 per cent of the income was from motor business while 30 per cent was from fire insurance. The rest was spread over health, liability, marine and engineering. He said the company hoped to improve its performance and break even during the current fiscal. It aimed at around Rs 225 crore of premium income in this fiscal.

Mr Agarwal also said the company was able to get good rates from reinsurers as they were happy with the results and the track record of the company. Besides, international trends in reinsurance business were also softer.

He said the company had launched an advertisement campaign, the first phase of which was aimed at improving awareness of Cholamandalam MS. The total expenditure for the campaign including television and other media is expected to be around Rs 4 crore in the current fiscal, he said.