SBI General Insurance, a subsidiary of State Bank of India, on Friday reported 11.3 per cent year on year (YoY) growth in profit before tax at Rs 470 crore for the financial year ended March 2019. The company had posted profit before tax of Rs 422 crore in the last fiscal, SBI General Insurance said in a statement.
The company's underwriting profit, a difference between premiums collected on insurance policies by the insurer and expenses incurred and claims paid out, jumped 146 per cent to Rs 79 crore in FY19 as compared to Rs 32 crore in FY18.
The Gross Written Premium (GWP) of the company rose by 33 per cent to Rs 3,553 crore as on March 31, 2019, versus Rs 4,717 crore in 2017-18. However, the solvency ratio declined marginally to 2.34 in FY19 against 2.54 last year. Gross written premiums are the total revenue from a contract expected to be received by an insurer before deductions for reinsurance or ceding commissions.
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Commenting on the earnings numbers, SBI General Insurance MD Pushan Mahapatra said that the company has recorded a robust top line and bottom line growth. "Our focus is on becoming digital ready in the near future in order to cater to product segments in travel, health and personal accident space," he said.SBI General Insurance Company Limited is a joint venture between the State Bank of India and Insurance Australia Group (IAG). SBI owns 70 per cent of the total capital, while IAG holds 26 per cent stake in the company. Last year, SBI offloaded 4 per cent stake in its subsidiary to Axis New Opportunities AIF and Premji Invest for Rs 482 crore.
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SBI Life Insurance on Thursday clocked a 15.33 per cent growth in net profit at Rs 1,326.80 crore, compared with Rs 1,150.38 crore in the previous financial year. The value of new business (VNB) stood at Rs 1,720 crore for 2018-19, up by 24 per cent over the previous financial year. VNB is used to measure the profitability of the new business written in a period.Edited by Chitranjan Kumar