GIC Re announced a gross premium income of INR442.38bn ($6.34bn) for the year ended 31 March 2019 at a company board meeting yesterday. This marked 6% growth from the previous year. While 70% of gross premiums were domestic, the balance was international.

The announcement of the results comes after GIC Re revised premium rates for eight sectors under the property class in line with the claims history of this sectors across the domestic market in March 2019. This resulted in a significant increase in premium rates for some sectors and clients, for risks which are ceded to the treaties with GIC Re.  The move was aimed at correcting the imbalance between the premium rating and claims history over a number of years. 

For the first three months of this year, the reinsurer posted a gross premium income of INR80.89bn which was over 5% lower than the gross premiums recorded in 1Q2018 and could possibly translate into lower gross premium income in the upcoming financial year.

At the same time, GIC Re saw its profit after tax plunge to INR22.24bn compared to INR32.34bn for the previous year ended 31 March 2018. This was attributed to an increase in tax provision on account of change in law.

GIC Re’s group performance was even better with 7.9 % growth in consolidated gross premium income and 19.33% increase in investment income. The reinsurer expects reinsurance premiums to touch INR700bn by 2022.