COIMBATORE: New Indian Assurance Company is aiming at 18 per cent business growth during 2018-19 financial year, a top official said on Monday.

“The company is focusing on the retail business and will open 200 micro offices and 10,000 agents in one year,” its Chairman and Managing Director G. Srinivasan told reporters here.

“The company has posted a 19 per cent year on year growth in premium income to Rs. 26,500 crore in the last financial year.” Stating that the net profit increased by 114 per cent year on year to Rs 2,201 crore during the last year, he said that the market share has gone up from 15 per cent to 15.1 per cent.

“Due to increase in awareness among the people, general insurance industry has become a high growth industry,” Srinivasan said.

On claim ratio, Srinivasan said that there was a dip in claims ratio for medical insurance from 114 per cent in 2016-17 to 103 per cent last year and the company wants to bring it down to 95 per cent during this year.

However, he said that health care insurance was loss making but improving, while claims ratio for motor damage premium dropped from 84 in 2016-17 to 74 per cent in 2017-18 and targeting to bring it down to 68 per cent during this fiscal.

“The ‘Ayushman Bharat Yojana’, which aims to provide medical insurance cover to 10 crore poor and vulnerable families and expected to be in place from October, will result in a substantial increase in the business of the company,” Srinivasan added.