SBI General aims at 50% growth this fiscal

CHENNAI: SBI General Insurance is looking at a 50% growth in business during this fiscal. The growth would come from health, motor and personal accident lines of business.
In terms of losses during the Chennai floods, the company has so far got 1,000 claims at Rs 120 crore on a gross value basis. “Of this, we have done full settlement for 100 cases while we have done ‘on account’ settlement for another 100,” managing director of the company, Bhaskar J Sarma said.He added that by end of December, the company hoped to settle 80% of the cases related to Chennai floods.
Of the 1,000 claims received by the company due to floods in the city, 372 pertained to motor at a gross value of Rs 3 crore while 600 came from the SME (small and medium enterprises) segment.
During 2013-14, SBI General Insurance’s GWP (gross written premiums) totalled Rs 1,600 crore and till November 2015, the company’s gross written premiums stood at Rs 1,200 crore. “Last year, we introduced a series of products in the health segment. We have recently filed a travel insurance policy for the domestic market (both group and individual) with the regulator. We are also filing a home and home contents cover with IRDA (Insurance Regulatory Regulatory Authority). This is a simple product where those people owing a home valued at Rs 30- Rs 40 lakh can gets their homes covered by paying an annual premium of Rs 1,000. The whole objective is to atttractive non-loanees home owners,” Sarma. Home finance companies normally mandate borrowers to take a house cover that covers damage to the structure during the loan sanction process.
On the possibility of joint venture partner IAG raising its stake in the venture to 49% from 26% currently, Sarma said that the valuation exercise ewas currently underway.