Best’s News & Research Service - May 08, 2018 11:38 AM (EDT)
Best’s Briefing: India Non-Life Insurance Outlook is Negative Despite Rapid Pace of Growth
- May 08, 2018 11:38 AM (EDT)
Singapore //BestWire// - A.M. Best has a negative market segment outlook on the non-life insurance market in India. The market has experienced robust growth over the past years. Growth momentum was not limited to business lines that benefited from government initiatives or tariff adjustments, but was also robust in other lines of business. The quality of growth however remains a concern. Technical profitability remains poor and in many cases weaker than five years ago. In addition, the of volume of motor third party reserves held for past policies remains large relative to earned premium and capital. Unfavourable reserve adjustments have the potential to significantly impact current performance and capital, especially given the lack of earnings buffer from other business lines.
Legislative initiatives aimed at motorists and the motor insurance market also may be a future benefit to India’s insurers. Market participants are hopeful, although some have expressed concern about how effective enforcement any new regulations will be, given the lack of enforcement on existing motor vehicle rules.
Notwithstanding the negative market segment outlook, A.M. Best recognizes that some non-life insurers may experience positive momentum. These companies may not be the largest in terms of premium market share, but they have the demonstrated capability to control the quality of their growth by using a comprehensive and methodical approach across their operations to generate risk-adjusted returns. New entrants to the market seem to aim at heavily leveraging technology and alternative distribution to compete on the basis of analytics, risk-segmentation and risk-adjusted pricing. The current size of these companies is indeed still very small compared with incumbents, but it will be interesting to see whether they will be part of a changing approach to growth in the Indian non-life market.
For the full copy of this briefing, please visit http://www3.ambest.com/bestweek/purchase.asp?record_code=273195 .
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