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    Medical insurance covers see 42% growth in Feb

    Synopsis

    Future Generali India Insurance, COO, Shreeraj Deshpande said, “On retail heath premium underwritten, we have seen about 24% growth in February, which has gone up to 29% in March. On overall growth in health business, we have seen 38% growth compared to last year.”

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    There was no panic buying attributable to the coronavirus crisis yet.
    (This story originally appeared in on Mar 24, 2020)
    CHENNAI: Medical insurance premiums saw a spike in February, with the overall growth in health business rising sharply by 42% year-on-year (YoY) — highest in 13 months, compared to a YTD run-rate of 17%.

    Retail health policies maintained strong momentum at 15% YoY growth in February, while group health business was up 19% YoY. State-owned insurers saw a sharp 67% growth in business, with United India (up 147% YoY) and Oriental (up 86% YoY) being the growth leaders. They gained market share from private players and specialised standalone players, wrote analysts with Kotak in a note.

    Future Generali India Insurance COO Shreeraj Deshpande said, “On retail heath premium underwritten, we have seen about 24% growth in February, which has gone up to 29% in March. On overall growth in health business, we have seen 38% growth as of March compared to the previous year.”

    He added that there was no panic buying attributable to the coronavirus crisis yet. However, enquiries have risen by 15-20%.

    Ditto for ICICI Lombard. “We call it the JFM phenomenon (JFM is January, February and March — a period when policies are renewed for tax benefits). There is no other specific reason that I see for February growth rising,” said Sanjay Datta, chief (underwriting, claims and reinsurance) at ICICI Lombard General Insurance. He, however, added that there has been an increase in enquiries for medical policies in March. ICICI Lombard launched a separate policy for Covid-19 last week. “We are selling through digital channels and not through agency,” he added.

    For Tata AIG General Insurance, sales of retail indemnity health policies have gone up by 85% in February on YoY basis. “Our portfolio was also not very big. However, we have seen a sharp rise in underwriting health premium, which was possible only through our agency network,” said Tata AIG General Insurance head & executive VP (consumer lines) Parag Ved. With the slowdown in businesses of banks and non-banking finance companies, it did not help bring business from their bancassurance partners, he said.

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