SBI-GI eyes to be among top non-life insurers by 2020

Lisa Jeffery, Deputy CEO, also said the company hopes to come out with its initial public offering in 2020. “We are investing in digital technology and looking at digital strategy. Now there are insurers who are purely into digital technology. The investment is part of our overall budget for information technology.”

At a time when the industry is registering 12 per cent growth, SBI General Insurance is logging about 30 per cent business growth. “We hope to log about 35 per cent growth in our gross domestic premium income (GDPI). During the first half of the current fiscal the GDPI growth was about 30 per cent at Rs 2,067 crore and the net profit was at Rs 270 crore,” Jeffery added.

She said SBI General Insurance is one of the few players who have posted an underwriting profit - simply put premium income minus claims. According to Jeffery, the company got 3,289 claims due to Kerala floods for a value of about Rs 168 crore and a sum of Rs 64 crore has been paid out towards claims. She said, the company officials contacted the insured in a proactive basis and told them about the insurance protection and claims procedure.

In respect of cyclone GAJA that devastated several districts in Tamil Nadu, the company has received 128 claims.

According to her, the fire premium rates are continuing to go down with the entry of purely online/digital insurers without the traditional set up. Queried about joint venture partner IAG International hiking its stakes in the company from the current 26 per cent to the maximum permissible 49 per cent Jeffery said there is no such idea as of now.

The non-life insurer is a joint venture between State SBI and IAG International.