Retail Car Premium to be Stable Amid Third-Party Pool, Provisioning Norms

By siliconindia   |   Tuesday, 10 January 2012, 01:11 IST
Printer Print Email Email
Retail Car Premium to be Stable Amid Third-Party Pool, Provisioning Norms
Bangalore: Recent changes and developments in the third-party motor insurance pool and amendments in provisioning norms is not going to affect the motor insurance premium for retail customers but will remain stable even after the changes. Only commercial vehicles will be affected with these changes. The private car owners, who buy a comprehensive motor cover but don't have exposure to the third-party motor insurance pool, designed four years back for commercial vehicles. Sanjay Datta, Head of Underwriting and Claims at ICICI Lombard General Insurance, said, "Although, comprehensive motor policies, which are taken by private car owners that cover third-party loss, do not have any participation in third-party motor insurance pool and, therefore, premiums will not be affected due to the dismantling. The third- party motor insurance pool was developed for mitigating the risk on commercial vehicles. For private car owners, the insurance tariffs were regulated by Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) norms, but, the risk had been with the insurer." The four year old third party motor insurance pool was decided to be dismantled and will be in effect from March 31, 2012. It was mandatory for the insurers to share the burden of third party pool basing on their market share. Lot of complains have been made by private insurers to abolish the pool because it's resulting in a lot of stress on their margins and profitability. A declined pool will be created, likely to be functional from April 1, 2012, as planned by IRDA. Moreover it will replace the third-party motor insurance pool. With this declined pool, the vehicles that were denied insurance coverage due to high risk would be covered by the declined pool. IRDA has come up with a solution that claims records for calculating the premium structure for third-party damage coverage that will be relevant for both commercial and private vehicles. Amarnath Ananthanarayanan, CEO and MD of Bharti Axa General Insurance, said, "Basically, the formula will decide any changes in the premium rates of private car owners. The final decision to add or reduce the value that is given by the formula annually depends on IRDA, however, if it is revised annually it will be a relief for insurers." IRDA has come up with latest alteration in provisioning norms for the loss-making third-party motor business heading towards the insurers rather than individual motor policyholders. Abhay Kumar, Vice-president, Head of Retail Business, Iffco-Tokio General Insurance, said, "Provisioning for the losses that have been incurred in the pool is on the insurer level and it is not significant for retails customers. However, depending on various insurers to insurers, it is up to them how they comply with provisions and maintains solvency."

Digital Supply Chain Transformation – Winning the AI/ML Way