2015 to be a Promising Year for General Insurance Sector – ICICI Lombard Releases Industry Outlook

ICICI Lombard General Insurance, India’s largest private sector insurance company, has released the key trends for 2014 and its outlook for 2015 for the Health and Motor insurance segments.

Commenting on the occasion, Mr. Sanjay Datta, Chief – Underwriting and Claims, ICICI Lombard General Insurance said: ‘As India’s largest private sector General insurance company, it is imperative for us at ICICI Lombard to lead the industry curve in terms of identifying consumer trends and introducing consumer centric products and services. As we look ahead, we see exciting times for the General insurance industry, driven by improving consumer demand, policy enablers and new initiatives by insurers.”

Some of the key insights and outlook shared include:

Health Insurance:

• The key disease trends remained consistent in 2014 led by Genito urinary, eye disorders, respiratory disorders, injuries and digestive ailments

• The pattern was similar for critical illness as neoplasm, metabol ailments, heart ailments continued to dominate

• Medical inflation was seen as moderating, especially in the last 3 years

• Cashless route continued to be preferred for high cost treatments

• Use of Tertiary hospitals increased from 43% to 49% in case of retail customers – influencing treatment costs

Among the key trends likely to emerge/ strengthen in 2015 include:

• Rising demand for OPD as is evident from initial response in group health segment

• Consultation services driving OPD usage at 73%, while diagnostics remains at a distance with 27% usage

• E-cashless module will gain prominence in the year ahead

Motor Insurance:

• Automobile segment continued to witness muted demand, scooters (132% growth) provided a silver lining

• Private car sales driven by hatch back cars, 40% growth in Apr- Nov sales

• Motor Insurance continued on the growth path, though pace of growth slowed (9.8% in Apr – Nov’14 compared to 17.1% in Apr – Nov’13)

• Impact of natural calamities was clearly evident with 40% increase in claims arising out of storms/ cyclone

Among the key trends likely to emerge/ strengthen in 2015 include:

• Industry to benefit from road safety measures focused on increasing governance on manufacturers and penalties on violations

• Introduction of DAIR (Detailed Accident Investigation Report) to reduce reporting time for insurers, waiting time for claimants

• Usage based insurance, though nascent, may see uptrend in the coming year

Commenting on the outlook for 2014, Sanjay Datta said “We believe that the year ahead would be good for the General insurance sector, including for the larger pieces of health and motor insurance. With the expected changes on the policy front and overall strengthening of the macro-economic scenario, the industry is poised to enhance its value proposition across the product and service spectrum. It should be an exciting 2015 for Health and Motor insurance customers.”

About ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company Ltd.:

ICICI Lombard GIC Ltd. is a joint venture between ICICI Bank Limited, India's second largest bank with total assets of over USD 99 billion at March 31, 2014 and Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited, a Canada based USD 37 billion diversified financial services company engaged in general insurance, reinsurance, insurance claims management and investment management. ICICI Lombard GIC Ltd. is the largest private sector general insurance company in India with a Gross Written Premium (GWP) of Rs 71.34 billion for the year ended March 31, 2014. The company issued over 11.22 million policies and settled over 6.44 million claims as on March 31, 2014.

ICICI Lombard received the highest rating in terms of overall customer satisfaction as well as ‘The Most Recommended Company’ in a 2013 survey to assess Customer satisfaction and Quality of Health insurance in India, commissioned by Dept. of Consumer Affairs, Ministry of Consumer Affairs. The company has also been conferred the "ASTD BEST Award 2012" for Learning and Development, "Porter Prize 2012" for creating Shared Value, "Golden Peacock Award 2012" for Corporate Social Responsibility and "Golden Peacock Innovation Award-2010" for Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana. It also received the "Product of the Year" award in the General Insurance category for FY2012-13 and was voted the No 1 Health Insurance Product in a survey of 18,000 people over 23 cities in India, a study done by Nielsen. The company has been conferred with 'Celent Asia Insurance Technology Award 2012' under the category Best Mobile Applications. More details are available on the website www.icicilombard.com