New India Assurance Company Ltd. (NIACL), on Friday, said the company sees big opportunity in rural areas and would expect good contribution from its micro offices, set up for rural markets, in the coming years.
“We were surprised over potential available for insurance firms in rural areas. There are lot of insurable assets such as two-wheelers, cars, tractors and new properties. With rising income levels, rural areas offer huge opportunity for us. The future lies in these locations,” G Srinivasan, Chairman-cum-Managing Director, NIACL, said here.
Micro offices The Mumbai-based PSU general insurer is set to complete addition of about 700 micro offices (one-man offices) shortly.
A significant number of offices were established during the past 3-4 months.
With these additions, the total number of micro offices would increase to about 1,000 by the current fiscal. The company was generating a business of about Rs. 200 crore through 300 offices, set up earlier, and motor insurance has been the major driver of business in those locations.
“We need to give at least 2-3 years time for these offices to start generating good businesses. We hope these centres will contribute good business share in the future,” he said adding, “we have positioned strongly to garner business from retail and personal categories through these offices.” Mr. Srinivasan said the company had hired about 600 assistants. It was in the process recruiting about 500 officers for this fiscal, he added. We will continue to add more people to support our growth plans and expansion,” he said.
NIACL has earned a premium of around Rs.8,400 crore during January-December 2013, registering a growth of around 15 per cent.
Despite economic slowdown, the company has seen strong growth in motor, health and marine hull portfolios.
The company is also in the process of expanding its overseas operations, and is preparing to open offices in Canada, Myanmar and Qatar.
Mr Srinivasan said overseas operations had been profitable and earned a profit of about Rs. 200 crore in 2012-13. He also said company is confident of achieving premium target of Rs 15,000 crore this fiscal.
