Surge in investment income and upward revision in premium rates helped New India Assurance post a net profit of Rs 517 crore in the December 2012 quarter as against a loss of Rs 177 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.
Premium income for the state-run insurer grew 18.8 per cent to cross Rs 8,500 crore in the first nine months of the current financial year.
The company reduced its management expenses to 24 per cent in the December 2012 quarter from 26 per cent. It also reduced incurred claims to 89 per cent from 93 per cent earlier. The investment income of the company grew to Rs 2,055 crore from Rs 1,709 crore.
“In the case of fire and engineering insurance, there has been an increase in premium rates. The market is moving towards risk-based pricing though it has not reached optimum levels yet.
“In the case of retail health insurance, we recently requested the regulator for a revision in price in this segment,” said G. Srinivasan, CMD, New India Assurance.
He added that the company has set a premium collection target of Rs 12,000 crore for the current fiscal.
The company has opened more than 500 micro-offices in semi-urban areas. Recently, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram launched 21 micro-offices in Devakottai district, Tamil Nadu.