Comments
Religare Health Insurance Company Ltd (RHICL) hopes to break even in the next two years, a top company official said.
This standalone health insurer, which started its journey in July 2012, also plans to raise additional capital of ₹100 crore this fiscal to fund business growth, Anuj Gulati, Managing Director & CEO, RHICL, told Business Line.
As on date, Religare Health is capitalised at ₹475 crore. In July 2012, this company had initial capital of ₹175 crore.
While Religare Enterprises (a listed entity) holds 90 per cent stake in RHICL, both Union Bank of India and Corporation Bank have 5 per cent stake each.
From about ₹38 crore in 2012-13, RHICL’s premium income has been growing at a scorching pace: to ₹150 crore in 2013-14, ₹276 crore in 2014-15, and ₹503 crore in just ended fiscal.
“We believe in this industry we will start to break even in about two years from now. By end-March 2018, we will start to break even on annual basis. On a run-rate basis it should happen a little earlier,” Gulati said.
Fast growing segment Health insurance has been one of the fastest growing segments in the insurance industry. From an annual premium of ₹17,000 crore in 2012-13, the aggregate premium collected by health insurance industry has grown to ₹27,000 crore in 2015-16. Gulati said that RHICL is a “very young company” in the insurance industry and would continue to build “trust” with customers on the service delivery front.
“We have been investing deeply in offering right service levels — pre-policy, policy, post-policy and claims. We have invested in technology process for better service and better risk management, launched products which meet the requirement of customers and adopted underwriting practices that will be sustainable,” he said.
RHICL today follows a multi-channel distribution approach — the company works through agents, banks, insurance brokers, corporate agents, online direct-to-customers and web aggregators.
“We continue to explore new distribution channels. That’s a good part in an under-penetrated market like India.”
Besides a bouquet of health insurance products, RHICL also offers travel insurance products — both domestic and overseas travel.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.