United India Insurance

United India Insurance Company Limited
Wholly owned by Govt. of India
Industry General insurance
Founded February 18, 1938[1]
Headquarters Chennai, India
Key people
 Milind Kharat (Chairman-cum-Managing Director)
Number of employees
 18300
Website www.uiic.co.in/home

United India Insurance Company Limited (Wholly owned by Govt. of India) under Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance (India), is a public sector General Insurance Company of India and one of the top General Insurers in Asia. With the net worth of ₹ 5407 crores and profit of ₹ 528 crores, the company has collected gross premium of ₹ 9709 crores as of in the financial year 2013-14. The company has more than seven decades of experience in Non-life Insurance business and was formed to its present form by the merger of 22 companies, consequent to the nationalisation of General Insurance companies in India.

implementation of Universal Health Insurance Programme of Government of India & Vijaya Raji Janani Kalyan Yojana ( covering 45 lakhs women in the state of Madhya Pradesh), Tsunami Jan Bima Yojana (in 4 states covering 4.59 lakhs of families), National Livestock Insurance and many such schemes.

Offices

United India Insurance Company headquartered at Chennai has more than 1600 offices consisting of 26 Regional Offices, 8 Large Corporate Offices and several divisional, branch and micro offices. The company has also been operating large number of Service and TP hubs for dedicated service to motor policy claims and related assistance.

Profit and performance

The United India Insurance reported a significant jump in its profit after tax at Rs 528 crore for the financial year 2013-14. Gross premium collected for the year stood at 9609 crores, up by about 7% from the previous year. Net worth of the company also witnessed a steady increase to 5361 crores.[2]

During the half-year period ended September 30, 2011, the company collected a total premium of Rs 4,033 crore, up by 27 per cent from Rs 3,178 crore in the year-ago period.[3] "We have set a target premium of Rs 8,000 crore this year," he said. On plans for the year 2011-12, he said the company would focus on retail, micro-small and medium enterprises and rural insurance segments. "We will focus on agency channel and bancassurance. Agency channel contributed 40 per cent and bancassurance 7 per cent (in the first half of the year). We expect it to increase in the years to come," he said. Replying to a question, he said the company would bid for the Tamil Nadu government's health insurance scheme. The investment income of the company for the first-half of the year stood at over Rs 803 crore as of September 30, 2011.

A steep reduction in management expenses (to 25% from 37%) claims outgo and an increase in premium income across segments has enabled the company to post 57 percent growth in net profit for the first half of the current fiscal. United India earned Rs.803 crore from its investments during the first six months of the 2011-12. The market value of the company's investments at the end of second quarter stood at Rs.15,803 crore

Future plans

Logging an average business growth of 27 percent in 2011-12, India's leading non-life insurer United India Insurance Company Ltd declared that it is targeting a gross premium of Rs.10,000 crore in fiscal year 2013-14 and sizeable reduction in underwriting losses - premium less claims outgo - to Rs.900 crore from last year's figure of Rs.1,760 crore.

The company would focus the retail, and small and medium enterprises (SME) segments for growth. It is in the process of adding further to its 48,000 agents and also to open around 100 one-man offices across the country. Currently, there are 400 such micro-offices bringing in around Rs.275 crore premium.

Company is waiting for approval from the insurance regulator IRDA to introduce three products under the health portfolio

Products

Personal policies

Commercial policies

Awards and recognitions

United India wins The Skoch Financial Inclusion Award 2013 for M-Power project in the ICT based innovation category. M-Power is a premium payment service running through mobile.

United India gets Skoch award 2010: United India Insurance Company has won the award for successful implementation of the financial inclusion initiatives. The company has implemented the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana in Kerala. Skoch awards, distributed by Skoch Consultancy Services, are meant to honour extraordinary achievements in governance, capacity building, empowerment, inclusive growth, citizen services delivery, technology, academics and change management.[4]

United India Insurance Company has been selected as one among the top three General insurance companies in Asia by Asia Insurance Review at the 14th Asia Insurance Industry Awards held in Bali, Indonesia.

United India Insurance Co. Ltd. has been awarded the Best Non-Life Insurance Company by NDTV Profit-Business Leadership Awards 2010.

United India Insurance Co. Ltd. has been awarded 'iAAA' rating for its claims paying ability by ICRA (Investment Information and Credit Rating Agency) for the third successive year. This rating indicates company's highest claims paying ability, its strong fundamental and its overall financial strength for meeting the policy holders obligations.

PCQuest, one of India's premier IT magazines has selected MPLS VPN project of UIIC as one of the best implemented IT projects in the year 2007. The details of the same are published in the June 2007 issue of the PCQuest magazine. MPLS VPN project of UIIC was selected after a rigorous screening process in which 250 IT projects of various companies in the country were evaluated. Subsequently, a jury of eminent personalities selected the top 21 IT projects implemented in 2007, in which the MPLS project of UIIC figures prominently.

New Challenges

The Republic Day visit of US President Barack Obama, to India, has brought new challenges to the Indian Government owned general insurance industry, with nuclear energy risk capping.The proposed nuclear risk pool that will be set up in India will have five government-owned insurance companies General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC), New India Assurance, Oriental Insurance, National Insurance and United India Insurance providing half the capacity for the Rs 1,500-crore pool. The rest will come from the central government. It is meant to insure the risks from nuclear reactors. There will be cover for both hot zones (radiation and nuclear reactors) and cold zones (outside reactor areas). At present, nuclear reactors in India have covers for zones outside the area of radiation and nuclear reactors. This is due to the lack of underwriting data on the liability for hot zones. Once the pool is in place, the premiums will go into the pool, and cover for hot zones and its liabilities will be provided.

In 2010, Parliament passed the CLND Act, which creates a liability cap for nuclear plant operators for economic damage in the event of an accident. It also leaves nuclear suppliers free of most liability. Industry experts had said both nuclear operators and suppliers should be jointly held liable for civil damages in case of an accident.

The Act also provides for state-run Nuclear Power Corporation of India, which operates all the atomic power plants in India, to seek compensation from suppliers in case of an accident due to faulty equipment. The Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant in Tamil Nadu, the 21st atomic reactor in India, will not be covered under this pool because its contract was signed much before the Act was passed. However, this plant has been covered for its non-radiation or cold zones.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his statement at the joint press interaction with President Barack Obama of United States of America, said that the India–United States Civil Nuclear Agreement, was the centerpiece of our (India-US) transformed relationship, demonstrating new trust.[5]

National re-insurer General Insurance Corporation (GIC Re) plans to issue insurance-linked bonds to raise Rs. 750 crore for creating capacity for the proposed Indian Nuclear Insurance Pool. After breakthrough in the US-India civil nuclear deal, the government has asked GIC Re to ensure that the pool is operational immediately. Following the withdrawal of insurance and reinsurance capacity by foreign re-insurers for terrorism risk, in the international market post 9/11, all the non-life insurers in India, along with the GIC Re, established the Terrorism Pool in 2002 to cover property damage and consequential loss arising out of any terror strike.

References

  1. ↑ "Top General Insurance Company | United India Insurance - Motor ,Health,Travel,House,Shop,Personal Accident products". Uiic.co.in. Retrieved 2015-02-20.
  2. ↑
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  4. ↑ "United India gets Skoch award 2010". The Hindu. 2011-02-03. Retrieved 2013-09-16.
  5. ↑ Deepa Nair (2015-02-01). "GIC Re plans to raise ₹750 cr via bonds for nuclear insurance pool | Business Line". Thehindubusinessline.com. Retrieved 2015-02-20.

External links