Shriram General Insurance expects to close the current fiscal with around Rs 4,500 crore in gross written premium, marking a full-year growth of nearly 24 percent, which is almost four times faster than the industry average, said Shriram General Insurance CEO Anil Kumar Aggarwal
During his interaction with Moneycontrol on the company's Q2 FY26 numbers, he said, while the company remains confident about meeting its growth target, it continues to grapple with systemic challenges such as the lack of access to motor insurance data, which has kept penetration levels stagnant at around 50 percent.
He added, on the crop insurance front, the insurer does not expect to win tenders this year, as aggressive pricing across the industry has pushed premiums down by about 25 percent despite broader coverage.
Edited Excerpts:
The last time we spoke, you mentioned that you were consciously trying to reduce the share of motor in your product mix and increase other segments. How has that progressed?
Shriram General’s plan to reduce its dependence on motor insurance was going well until the market became aggressive again. Some insurers started selling motor policies below the benchmark rates set by the Insurance Information Bureau of India (IIB) (which is a practice known as “breaching the IIB rate). At the same time, companies began offering very high commissions and discounts to dealers (up to 90–99 percent) to win business. This price war made it harder for Shriram to shift focus to other segments, which is why its non-motor business could only rise slightly to about 9 percent of the total portfolio, instead of the 10 percent target.
You had earlier mentioned the lack of access to motor insurance data as a major industry challenge. Has there been any progress on that front?
Unfortunately, no progress yet. The industry is still struggling with this issue. We’ve been requesting IRDAI and the government to ensure data sharing or introduce mechanisms like sending SMS alerts to uninsured vehicle owners or imposing stricter penalties for uninsured vehicles. But so far, there hasn’t been any breakthrough.
On the health insurance front, how has the GST rate cut impacted sales and your product mix?
Our health portfolio is very small, so there hasn’t been much impact from the GST cut. As I mentioned earlier, we’ve taken baby steps in this segment, with a target of Rs 8-10 crore for the year. We’re not very bullish here. However, the motor segment saw strong traction in October, partly due to higher vehicle sales in the industry. Even though we’re not heavily into new vehicle insurance, October premiums were our best so far.
Are you currently offering EV insurance, and what’s your approach to it?
Yes, we are in the EV insurance space, but we’re being very cautious now. Last year, we were writing aggressively, but we’ve slowed down. The reason is that in some cases, especially where the battery gets damaged due to water exposure, there was no clear system to assess or adjust load value, and insurers were forced to replace batteries outright. This has created challenges, so we’re being selective in underwriting EV risks.
Some insurers have reported challenges post the rollout of E20 fuel, particularly for older vehicles. Have you noticed any similar issues?
We’ve heard about it, but our cautious stance in EV and motor rating helps us avoid large exposures to such cases.
Coming to the crop segment, last time you mentioned sitting out the final round of bidding for crop insurance tenders. Has there been any progress this quarter?
No, not at all. In fact, this year, the crop premium is expected to fall by about 25 percent, despite coverage increasing, mainly because of the aggressive pricing by insurance companies. When we quoted, we were at rank 8, and we thought we were aggressive enough. But given the market aggression, we don’t expect to win tenders this year. Still, we will continue to participate.
You had also spoken about your goal to reach two lakh financial advisors by FY30. How is that progressing?
As of June 30, we were number one in the industry in terms of adding financial advisors. This year alone, we’ve added 9,482 new financial advisors, taking our total count to around 97,570. We expect to close the year with approximately 1.5 lakh
What’s your growth guidance for the remainder of the year?
Our target for the year is Rs 4,500 crore, and we are confident of achieving it. We expect overall full-year growth to be around 24 percent.
On the Sanlam deal to increase stakes in both Shriram Life and Shriram General there has been a delay. What’s causing it?
There’s a legal process involved, as the investment flows from Sanlam’s sale of shares in Shriram Finance to investments here. It’s a multi-layered process, and we’re hopeful of completing the transaction soon.
And what about the IPO plans? Are they still on track?
Yes, the IPO is still part of our roadmap. Earlier, in 2024, we had said it would take 2–3 years, so we now expect it to happen in about two years from now.
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