The general insurance company's combined ratio stood at 111.2 percent for FY18
State-owned general insurance company New India Assurance posted a net profit of Rs 335.96 crore for the March quarter.
The non-life insurer had posted a profit of Rs 553.2 crore for Q4Fy17. But, in the same quarter previous fiscal the company had a one-time gain of Rs 530.88 crore in Q4FY17 due to a change in their accounting policy for unexpired risk reserves. So the numbers for both the quarters are not strictly comparable.
The combined ratio improved to 111.2 percent in FY18 compared to 102.63 percent last year.
Combined ratio reflects the company's underwriting performance and a below 100 percent ratio refers to a company making underwriting profits. This means the premiums collected are commensurate with the claims paid.
related news
Srinivasan added the combined ratio has dropped by 8 percent due to an improvement in the claims ratio and expense ratio of the company.
The gross written premium of the insurance company increased by 15.3 percent year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 26,554 crore.
For FY18, the underwriting loss came down to Rs 2,525 crore compared to Rs 3,547 crore a year ago. The adjusted combined ratio, which factors in investment income on technical reserves, came down to 95 percent from 103 percent a year ago.
The company has declared a final dividend of Rs 5 per share (pre-bonus) taking the total dividend to Rs 8.75 per share. The board has also recommended a bonus of 1:1 meaning one new share for every existing share, subject to shareholder approval.
For the full year (FY18), the insurer posted a net profit of Rs 2201 crore, compared to Rs 1,008 crore in FY17.
Srinivasan added that the focus will be to reduce the loss ratios and there will be further price corrections in segments in group health insurance.