Claims ratio of non-life insurers dips to 82.52 pc in FY24: Irdai report

New Delhi, Dec 23 (PTI) Net incurred claims to net earned premium (claims ratio) of non-life insurance industry stood at 82.52 per cent during 2023-24 as against 82.95 per cent in the preceding fiscal year, as per the Irdai’s annual report.

According to the Annual Report 2023-24 of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai), during 2023-24, the non-life insurance industry underwrote a total direct premium of ₹2.90 lakh crore in India registering a growth of 12.76 per cent from previous year.

The contribution of public sector general insurers increased 8.88 per cent from ₹82,891 crore in 2022-23 to ₹90,252 crore in 2023-24.

Private sector insurers, including standalone health insurers, have underwritten ₹1.88 lakh crore as against ₹1.58 lakh crore in 2022-23.

The aggregate profit of the non-life insurance sector was ₹10,119 crore as against a net loss of ₹2,566 crore in 2022-23.

During 2023-24, the aggregate net incurred claims saw a 15.39 per cent increase to ₹1.72 lakh crore from ₹1.49 lakh crore.

“The incurred claims ratio (net incurred claims to net earned premium) of the non-life insurance industry was 82.52 per cent during 2023-24 as against 82.95 per cent of the previous year,” the report said.

The incurred claims ratio for public sector insurers was 97.23 per cent for 2023-24 as against the previous year’s incurred claims ratio of 99.02 per cent.

The incurred claims ratio for private sector general insurers, standalone health insurers and specialised insurers were at 76.49 per cent, 63.63 per cent, and 66.58 per cent, respectively, for 2023-24 as compared to the previous year’s ratio of 75.13 per cent, 61.44 per cent and 73.71 per cent, respectively.

The report also said that the life insurance industry paid total benefits of ₹5.77 lakh crore in 2023-24, constituting 70.22 per cent of the net premium.

The benefits paid on account of surrenders/withdrawals increased 15.29 per cent to ₹2.29 lakh crore in 2023-24 of which public sector life insurer accounted for 58.36 per cent.

During 2023-24, a total of 18 life insurance companies reported profits. Profits of the life insurance industry grew 10.79 per cent in 2023-24 with profit after tax (PAT) of ₹47,407 crore as against ₹42,788 crore in 2022-23.

Public sector life insurers reported an 11.75 per cent increase in profits while private sector life insurers reported a rise of 5.32 per cent in profit in 2023-24.

Irdai said in 2023-24, the country’s insurance penetration was at 3.7 per cent as compared to 4 per cent in 2022-23.

The insurance penetration for life insurance industry marginally declined from 3 per cent in the previous year to 2.8 per cent during 2023-24.

The penetration with respect to non-life insurance industry remained the same at 1 per cent during 2023-24 as in 2022-23.

There were 26 life insurers, 25 general insurers, eight standalone health insurers, 12 reinsurers and foreign reinsurance branches, and two specialised insurers, registered as on March 31, 2024.