Ladies and gentlemen, you have been connected for The New India Assurance Company Limited conference call. Please stay connected. The call will begin shortly. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the conference call of The New India Assurance Company Limited, arranged by Concept Investor Relations to discuss its Q3 and nine-month FY 26 results. We have with us today, Mrs. Girija Subramanian, Chairman cum Managing Director, Mrs. Kasturi Sengupta, Executive Director, General Managers, and Chief Financial Officers, among other esteemed management members.
At this moment, all participant lines are in listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. At that time, if you have a question, please press star and one on your telephone keyboard. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand over the floor to Mrs. Girija Subramanian, Chairman cum Managing Director. Thank you, and I now hand over the floor to you. Over to you, ma'am.
Good afternoon, everyone. I'm Girija Subramanian, Chairman cum Managing Director of The New India Assurance Company Limited. I warmly welcome all of you to this earnings conference call to discuss our financial and operational performance for the third quarter and 9 months ended December 31, 2025. Joining me on this call are Mrs. Kasturi Sengupta, Executive Director, our General Managers, Chief Financial Officer, and other senior officials of the company. At the outset, I would like to express our sincere gratitude to our shareholders, investors, analysts, policyholders, and all stakeholders for their continued trust and support. Your confidence and engagement remain a key source of strength for the company. Before diving into the numbers, I'm proud to share significant third-party validations of our financial stability.
In December 2025, AM Best, a global credit rating agency, revised our outlook to positive from stable, while reaffirming our financial strength rating of B++ (Good) and long-term issuer credit rating of bbb+ . This revision specifically recognizes our improving trend in enterprise risk management and the strengthening of our internal systems and audit controls. New India Assurance stands at an important phase of this journey, carrying forward a legacy of over 106 years, while steadily adapting to the evolving dynamics of the insurance industry. Established in 1919 and nationalized in 1973, the company has played a foundational role in the development of India's general insurance sector.
Today, with a pan-India network of over 1,660 offices and an overseas presence across 24 countries, we continue to maintain leadership in the Indian non-life insurance market in terms of gross direct premium. Our strategic focus remains clearly defined and consistent. We continue to prioritize risk-weighted and sustainable growth, strengthen underwriting discipline, enhance claims efficiency and service quality, leverage technology to improve operational effectiveness, and preserve capital strength and solvency. These principles guide our decision-making across business cycles. During the quarter, the general insurance industry operated in a competitive environment with selective pricing pressures and elevated claims experience in certain segments. As per General Insurance Council data for December 2025, the Indian general insurance industry reported a gross direct premium of INR 250,000 crore, registering a year-on-year growth of 8.69%.
Against this backdrop, New India Assurance underwrote gross direct premium of INR 32,229 crore, translating into a market share of approximately 13.40%, reinforcing our continued leadership position in the sector. Our diversified distribution architecture and balanced product portfolio continue to support stable performance, while managing acquisition costs and risk concentration. For the 9 months ended FY 2026, our distribution mix comprised direct at 31.15%, brokers at 37%, agency at 24.39%, dealers at 6.9%, and bancassurance at 0.56%.
Our product mix remained well-diversified, with health and personal accident at 48.16%, fire at 15.52%, motor own damage at 11.10%, motor third party at 13.04%, marine at 2.43%, crop at 0.37%, and other segments accounting for 9.35%. Over the past few quarters, we have taken deliberate steps to recalibrate our portfolio by exiting or restructuring select large corporate accounts, where pricing did not adequately compensate for risk or capital consumption. This has been offset by an increased focus on retail, SME, and better-quality risk. Our operating philosophy continues to emphasize prudent risk assessment at the policy level, ensuring that growth is aligned with profitability and capital efficiency. The benefits of this approach are reflected in improved portfolio stability and controlled volatility.
Turning to our financial performance for the quarter ended Q3 FY26, gross written premium global was INR 11,680 crores, while net premiums earned stood at INR 9,725 crores. The company reported a net profit after tax of INR 372 crores for the quarter, compared to INR 353 crores in the corresponding period last year. From an operating metrics perspective for Q3 FY26, the net incurred claim ratio stood at 90.77%. The commission ratio and expense ratio were at 10.78% and 16.44% of the net premium, respectively. The combined ratio for the quarter was reported at 117.98%.
Solvency ratio stood at 1.81 times, remaining comfortably above the regulatory requirement, and the return on equity for the quarter was 6.62%. For the 9 months ended FY 2026, the gross written premium income global stood at INR 35,555 crore. Net profit after tax for the period stood at INR 826 crore. For 9 months FY 2026, the net incurred claim ratio was reported at 99.63%, with a commission ratio and expense ratio at 9.80% and 14.56% of net premium, respectively. The combined ratio stood at 124%. Solvency ratio remained strong at 1.81 times, and the return on equity for the period was 4.95%.
While near-term challenges, such as claims inflation and competitive intensity persist, we remain confident that our continued focus on disciplined underwriting, operational efficiency, and customer-centric initiatives will support stable and sustainable performance. Our emphasis remains on long-term value creation, while upholding the highest standards of governance and service excellence. With this, I conclude my opening remarks and now invite our General Manager of Finance, Mrs. Mary Abraham, to take you through the financial performance in greater detail.
Thank you, ma'am, and good afternoon, all. So, I'd like to take you through the financial performance of New India for the quarter and up to the quarter ended thirty-first December 2025, as well as the performance of New India as compared to the vis-à-vis the industry, and the company's strategy. Beginning with the financial performance, for the quarter ended 31 December 2025, our gross written premium was INR 11,680, as compared to that of the previous year of INR 10,778, with a growth of 8.37%. Up to the quarter, our growth in gross written premium was 10.47% as compared to the previous year.
Coming to the incurred claims ratio, it was 90.77% for the quarter ended December 2025, as compared to that of the previous year, which was 94.49%. There was a reduction of 4%, and this is as against the figures up to the quarter, which stood at 97.38% for last year, as compared to 99.62% for the current year. This was mainly because of the half yearly increase in the ICR up to the half year, that is, September 30, 2025. The commission ratio on net written premium was 10.78% for the quarter as compared to 9.70% for the quarter of the previous year.
Operating expenses for the quarter of the current year was 16.44% as compared to 12.09% of the previous year, and this was mainly due to the provision that was made for the wage revision as per the approval given by the central government, and we are awaiting the notification. The combined ratio was 117.98% for the quarter of the current year, as compared to 116.28% for the quarter of the previous year. This, once again, the increase is because of the wage revision provision that has been made. Coming to the underwriting results, it is a loss of INR 1,736 crore, and up to the quarter, the loss was INR 7,046 crore.
However, with the investment income that we were able to earn in the quarter of INR 2,280 crore, and the interest, dividend and rent of INR 1,200 crore, and the capital gains of INR 1,080 crore, net of the other expenses of INR 174 crore, we were able to make a profit before tax of INR 367 crore for the quarter, as compared to INR 116 crore for the quarter of the previous year. The underwriting results were mainly impacted by the provision towards wage arrears and the retirement benefits of active employees, where we had provided INR 759 crore for quarter three of the financial year 2025-26, and INR 1,877 crore for the 9 months ended 31 December 2025.
After making provision for tax, our profit after tax stood at INR 372 crore for the quarter of this year, as compared to INR 353 crore for the quarter of the previous year. It's notable here that the PBT, the profit before tax, recorded an increase of INR 215 crore—15% as compared to that of last year. Income from the fixed income securities and dividend income from equity showed a steady increase during the period, while a buoyant equity market helped in realizing higher capital gains. Besides, we also had monetized investments to help in the provision that we made for the wage revision. Going on to some of the important ratios. Go to the next. The important ratios. The solvency ratio. Next slide. Yeah.
The solvency ratio up to Quarter Three of 2025, 2026 is 1.81 times, as compared to 1.9 times of last year. However, it's notable that our solvency ratio increased from 1.79 times in Quarter Two of the current year to Quarter Three of the current year. Assets under management up to the quarter increased from INR 97,690 crores last year to INR 100,890 crores in the current year. Technical reserve up to the quarter increased from INR 52,536 crores last year to INR 56,745 crores in the current year. Net worth, up to the quarter, increased from INR 21,516 crores to INR 22,630 crores in the current year.
Fair Value Change Account, which was INR 24,991 crore last year up to the quarter, reduced to INR 19,993 crore in up to the quarter of the current year. Mainly because of the volatile market condition, and also because of the monetization of investment that we had done to finance our wage revision provision. The return on equity, which stood at 4.01% up to the quarter last year, increased to 4.95% up to the quarter of the current year. Coming to the segment-wide performance. For the quarter, fire line of business registered an increase of 4.06%, and up to the quarter, the increase was 15.31%.
Marine had a very significant increase of 19.46% for the quarter, with an increase of 9.01% up to the quarter. Motor, including OD and TP premium, had a minus growth of 0.89% for the quarter, and up to the quarter also, it was a minus figure of 1.18%, and this was because of the conscious decision that we were making to realign some of our product, product-wise, premiums, where we did not want to continue in lines which were incurring losses, huge losses. Health, including PA, registered a good growth of 18.42% in the current quarter, and up to the quarter, too, the growth was good at 16.15%.
Liability for the quarter increased by 21.42%, while the liability premium after the quarter registered an increase of 8.5%. Engineering showed an increase of 16.46% for the quarter, and it was an increase of 15.51% up to the quarter. Aviation, there was a -5.14% in the current quarter due to some premium which did not come in. Whereas up to the quarter, there is a growth of 1.13%. All the other business LOBs put together, for the quarter, there was a reduction of 26.14%, mainly because the crop premium did not come to us. Up to the quarter, however, there is a growth of 7.08%.
Going over to the incurred claims ratio segment-wise. The ICR for fire improved from 54%—Sorry, it not improved, it worsened from 54% to 65% for the quarter, and up to the quarter, it was 81%. For marine, again, the ICR for the quarter was adverse at 119%, which is mainly due to some very large claims that came in, especially due to two of the ships that sank and the resultant GA claims, the fire claim that was there on one of the ships, and a ship that sank, resulting in a large marine cargo claim. Motor, the ICR, both OD and TP put together, the ICR for the quarter was 108%, as compared to 102% last year.
And this was, as mentioned earlier, was because of the decision being taken to weed out some of the non-viable product lines. Health, including PA, registered a remarkable decline for the quarter from 103% to 91%, and up to the quarter, too, there was a decrease from 103% to 101%. Liability, too, showed a reduction in the ICR for the quarter, from 57% to 21%, and up to the quarter, it was a reduction of from 59% to 51%. Engineering, the ICR for the quarter stood at 3%, as against 37% of the previous year, and up to the quarter, it was the ICR was 52%, as compared to 54% of the last year.
Aviation, the ICR for the quarter stood at 149%, as compared to 106%. This was mainly due to the Air India claim that we had, and the ICR up to the quarter was 323%, as compared to 78% of the last year. In all the other lines of business, the ICR for the quarter stood at 52%. It was a reduction from last year's figure of 76%, and up to the quarter, the figure was 79%, as compared to 69% of the previous year. Coming to the performance of NIA vis-à-vis that of the industry. The general insurance industry grew by 8.69% in quarter three financial year 2025-2026.
Whereas New India's domestic gross direct premium income grew by 13.71%, outpacing the industry growth. The year-on-year market share increased from 12.8% to 13.40%. The growth momentum continued in December 2025, with company outpacing the industry growth. The market share segment-wise. In fire, the fire LOB, while New India had a total premium of INR 4,028 crore out of the total market share of INR 22,769 crore, which was a market share of 17.69%. For marine, our market share is 18.19%. In motor, we have a market share of 9.63%. In health and PA, we have a market share of 16.44%.
For crop, it is 0.03%, and all the other lines of business, it is 17.12%. The company's strategy. Our segment mix, health accounts for 48.16%. Motor TP accounts for 13.04% of our total premium. Motor OD is 11.10%. Marine is stands at 2.43%. Fire is at 15.52%. The other, crop is 0.37%, and all the other lines of business is 9.35%. And as for our distribution mix, brokers account for 37% of our total premium. Agency accounts for 24.39%. Direct business accounts for 31.15%. Bancassurance accounts for 0.56%, and dealer business accounts for 6.90%.
Key initiatives for the financial year 2025, 2026. We're launching innovative new products with focus on retail and MSMEs. We have entered new lines like parametric insurance. There's emphasis on growth in segments other than motor and health, where the competition intensity is high. This further impetus on risk management initiatives, and we have taken steps to improve the global credit rating. Key initiatives, IT initiatives that have been taken, we have a call center offering services in seven regional languages. We've revamped our.
Ladies and gentlemen, the management line has been disconnected. Please hold while we get them reconnected. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for being on hold. The management has been connected now. Over to you, ma'am.
Hello. Yes, just continuing with the key IT initiatives. We have call center offering services in seven regional languages. We have revamped our website. WhatsApp service in eight languages, which offer policy and claim related services. We have AI and ML enabled chatbot for customer service. Claim automation efforts continue for faster claim settlements, and customer portal offering a seamless user experience for standard products. Thank you.
Can we open the floor for-
It's done?
Yeah, it is done. Yes, yes.
Okay. Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touchtone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking their question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question is from the line of Rachna K. from Simple. Please go ahead.
Hello. Thank you for the opportunity. Two data and business related questions. First, has the reserve release in claim that is-
We can't hear you clearly. Can you repeat this question? We can't hear you clearly.
Okay. I will, I will repeat my question. Is it clear now?
Can be a little louder.
Okay. Has the reserve release that is IBNR also contributed to decline in claim-
Sorry to interrupt, Rachna. We are unable to hear you. Can you please use a handset mode?
Okay.
IBNR. About IBNR.
Hello? Hello. Hello.
Yeah, please go ahead.
Yes. Yes, my question was, has the IBNR reserve release, which has seen a decline from, you know, INR 547 crore-around INR 85 crore, has that also resulted into a decline in claims ratio, or how should I read this? This is my first question.
Yeah, I can answer that question. There is no particular decline per se, as far as the core lines like motor third party are concerned. However, what happens is there are lines like crop, where initially you set aside reserve in the form of IBNR, and later when the claims are actually either is paid out, the corresponding IBNR comes down. So, in this quarter, we did cede quite a lot of payments on our crop business, which led to a reduction of IBNR. So, if you exclude crop, there has been the IBNR estimates have been pretty consistent with what it was during the first half. And there is no specific release per se, as far as the results are concerned.
Okay, understood. My second question is on the investment book. If we cede the investment book has not grown so much, it's grown only by 3%. But if we cede our investment income and yield on investment, they have improved quite a lot year-on-year. So if you could provide some color on that piece as well.
Yeah, I'm Chandra here. So, the yield has increased because of what Mary ma'am has mentioned during the presentation. We have sold some bit of equity to realize profit, and that is why the overall income on investment has increased. This is a one-time thing which is done for accommodating the wage revision expense.
Okay, and-
Yeah.
Okay, and on investment book, if you could provide some color?
About? Uh...
The growth, the growth on investment book.
Yeah, because we have sold, like I just mentioned.
So accordingly, to some extent, it has come down. The investment book value has not grown to the extent that would have been there in previous quarters.
Okay. My next question, I understand we have exited a group uncomfortable business in group health. But, the insurance-
Sorry to interrupt, Rachna. We are unable to hear you.
Hello? Hello, hello.
Your voice is muffling, ma'am. Can you please join the queue?
Okay.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Shobhit Sharma from HDFC Securities Limited. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi, ma'am. Thanks for the opportunity. Hope I am audible. So, ma'am, my first question is on the growth side. So, if I look at on the motor side, though, you have mentioned that we are, we are recalibrating our portfolio, and because of which we have slowed down. So, can you help us understand how long it will take to stabilize, and how should we see the growth trajectory, from next year onwards? And if you can give us some color on the composition of our motor portfolio between the private car, two-wheeler, and commercial vehicle, how it has moved and what changes we have incorporated. If you can give some numbers around it, that would be helpful.
Lastly, on the motor side of the business, if you can give us some composition in terms of the business which we have sourced in the form of new vehicles and old vehicles, that would be helpful. Why I wanted to know this is because on the health side, though we have taken a number of measures, the result on the loss ratio is quite visible. But on the motor side, though I understand TP is a long tail, but on the OD side, ideally, it should be visible if you have taken that kind of stance. This is my first thing. Yeah.
So, thank you, Shobhit, for your question. So, the growth on motor is a little dented because of, very strategic and very well, well thought out, you know, solutions for this loss-making accounts that we have been suffering from in motor. So, definitely because of, you know, as exiting from many of these segments in motor, wherever we found the losses exceptionally harsh, we have growth has come down, and this will continue for some time. Maybe we are trying to, I mean, work with the new dealers and new other, new partnerships. I think with that coming, we should be able to, make up for this growth in the next couple of quarters, and at least it will show an upward trend, is what we feel.
The composition as of now is 46% in private car, 47% in commercial vehicles, and the rest in two-wheelers. So, basically, it is... Basically, we, this, this particular restructuring also, I think we will try to work towards a better composition on private car and more than the other two. So, we are working towards a better composition on private car, and going forward, I think in a couple of quarters, we should be showing some positive growth and profitability and reduction in ICR, at least, on motor.
Just to follow up on this, can you tell us how this mix has, on the private car, two-wheeler, CV, how this mix has evolved over the last couple of quarters or maybe last year, how we ended and where we are right now?
So, on the commercial vehicles, I think we had, we had more on commercial vehicles earlier, and private car was definitely less than 47%. Now, I think we have increased our share on private cars, and commercial vehicles has come down slightly. The two-wheelers has, by and large, remained where it was. So, in commercial vehicle also, we have restricted our writing on those greater than 40,000 cc vehicles. And there, I feel because we have, you know, stayed away from those more risky segment, there also there will be a turnaround that we'll see in the next few quarters.
Ma'am, any kind of benefit which you have seen on your portfolio because of the GST rationalization over the last quarter, on the motor side, specifically?
Motor side, actually, the private car growth is there in the private car segment because of the GST rationalization, and I think that will continue and because year-over-year, quarter-on-quarter, as we grow, we will see the growth in premium also because of that.
Okay, ma'am. Thank you. Ma'am, another question is on the wage cost. Though in the notes to account, the wage cost arrears, which is mentioned, is around INR 1,500 crore impact for the 9 months period. But the press release mentioned it is somewhere around INR 2,500 odd crore. So, can you help us clarify that? And lastly, on the wage cost, you have mentioned that there is a family pension revision, which has happened up to 30% of 30% of the cost. So, can you give us some number, how this cost would be, and what kind of impact this number can have? Will it be this large, like we have seen the arrears?
Yeah. So, actually, the wage revision calculations is around INR 2,500 on the whole. For the revenue account, it's around INR 1,677 crores, which comes to the in-service employees, and for the arrears that have to be paid to them from October-August 2022. But the rest of it, that is around INR 642 crores, is on account of arrears that are payable to our retired employees, and that has been taken to the profit and loss account. So, this is the breakup. And as far as the FPS is concerned, 30% that has not yet been - that is, from the date the notification comes through, therefore, it has been included here, and that would be roughly around INR 700-INR 800 crores.
That should complete the whole thing for us as far as wage revision is concerned.
Okay. Ma'am, anything on the arrears side is yet to be provided in our books, or we have taken entire impact in the 9 months period?
No, no, we'll have to provide for this INR 700-INR 800 crore, 700 or 800 crore around that amount, for the FPS in the last quarter-
Okay.
because it cannot be done before the notification comes out. Notification is yet to come out.
So, only the FPS portion is pending for provision because of the gazette notification?
Yeah, that is prospective. That is why it's not being taken into.
... Okay, ma'am. Now, coming to your investment book, we are seeing a significantly higher realization. You mentioned it was to offset the impact of the wage cost revision. So, can you help us understand how much gains we have realized during the nine months and the current quarter, and how should we think about it going forward as well?
So, the profit on sale that we have realized is around INR 4,236 crore. And of this, INR 2,000 crore is pertaining specifically to the wage revision provision. So, the balance is our regular trading activity, buy and sell activity, so, according to the turning of the portfolio.
Ma'am, how much of this was accounted for in the third quarter?
It is entirely accounted in the third quarter.
What's this number for 9 months period?
That's in the split of the.
Yeah.
2,000 how much?
For the quarter, it is 2,000. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Which one? 2,000 280. 280 is in this one. Just a moment.
Yeah.
Zero, please.
Sir, it is around INR 2,000 crore from non-special activities.
No, I think he's asking what is the amount which is, in this quarter, Q3.
Q3. It is around INR 1,080 crore in all, total. From make it 2,080.
Yeah. INR 1,080 crores from profit on sale of equity in the third quarter.
Quarter.
Overall, it is for up to the third quarter, it is 4,200.
Okay. And how should we think about it? Yeah, and this is what I was asking. How should we think about it, let's say, for FY 2027? Because I, if we are able to provide that FPS again in the, in the fourth quarter, let's say. So, how should we think about it, our investment book? We'll maintain that INR 2,000 odd crores kind of, run rate on the gains side?
Yes, sir. That would be our normal sale activity would be around 700-800 in the quarter, plus the additional that is required to set off the wage revision provision, which will be known once the notification comes and when the provision is required to be made, we will be planning accordingly, depending on what is our income that we have already generated from all our entire portfolio up to that point of time.
Ma'am, one of your portfolio company, wherein you have a significant holding, has just gotten SEBI approval for IPO. Do we have a plan to participate in the IPO for that?
That is, in the future, so, we will look into it when it comes up.
Okay, ma'am. Ma'am, lastly, on the taxation side, we have not seen anything provided for in terms of the income tax onto your PNL for the 9 months here. So, can you help us understand why is it so, and how should we think about it going forward?
No, this is because the advance tax is being paid.
Right.
So, because of that, we don't need to. I mean, we are paying adequately, advance tax is being paid, and that is why we are not providing for...
Write-offs, write-offs has given you some cushion.
Yeah, plus the write-offs that we have been doing on the bad debts, as per our board-approved policy, that has also given us some relief and some cushioning, because of which our taxes come down.
Ma'am, for this financial year, should we assume a negligible tax rate for you?
Yes.
What should be a long-term, kind of, a long-term tax rate going forward from FY 2027 onwards?
17.472% of the profit.
It would be 17.47-
Two.
2%. This is the MAT tax rate.
Okay, ma'am. Okay, ma'am. Lastly, ma'am, coming on to the-
Sorry to interrupt, Mr. Sharma. Please rejoin the queue for more questions.
Sure. Thank you and all the best.
Yeah. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, a reminder to all, if you wish to ask a question, please press * then 1. The next question is from the line of Pawan Nandlal Sachdev, an individual investor. Please go ahead.
Hello. I hope I'm audible.
Yes.
Yeah. Thank you for this opportunity. So, my question is: which segment contributed most to the improvement in the incurred claim ratio in this quarter? And it would be helpful if you quantify the your highest one.
What did you ask? Which is the-
Segment that-
Which segment contributed most to the improvement in the incurred claim ratio?
It's the health segment.
Incurred Claim Ratio. Okay.
The health segment contributed immensely to the improvement because it forms around 48% of our book, and the incurred claim ratio has come down by 2 percentage points on up to 9 months. And for the quarter, it has come down quite drastically from 103% to 91%.
Okay. And this 91% of our net incurred claim ratio, is it sustainable, sustainable on a run rate basis from now on?
... It is, we are working towards a strategy where we are, you know, where the group GMC accounts are concerned, we are either pricing them and negotiating to get the closer to the more right price, or we are exiting from GMCs that do not give us adequate pricing, and going for accounts where pricing is more fair and more adequate. And, apart from that, we have increased our you know, our anti-fraud activities, like, we've increased inspections from 30%-50% compulsorily, and we'll be increasing it even more in the quarters to come. We have got our own doctors. We are on the way of hiring new doctors, so, this activity will go on intensifying.
We are on the, you know, threshold of buying a new software for fraud analysis, and already the vendor selection process is on, and as soon as I think in a three to four months' time, we would be able to bring in that fraud monitoring software, which would make this entire activity even more automated. And I think therefore, the sustenance of this model is going to definitely be there going forward.
Oh, okay. Understood. Can you comment on run rate loss ratio in motor and health, excluding one-off and cat losses?
Motor - On health, we're aiming towards a loss ratio of around 98%-100% overall. And,
And-
For motor also, we are trying to bring the loss ratio to around 103%-104%.
Just one last question from my side: How has market share trended across, motor health and non-motor segment, in Q3? And where do you see the strongest competitive position?
We have done well on the market share, you know, side, wherein I think, we have, like, fire, marine, everywhere we are 17-18% market share, including health and PA, which is a very big portfolio. And in, with the standalone companies being there, even there we have managed around 16.44%, which is quite creditable. Going forward, we, we see a similar kind of market share across these segments. Maybe in the others, like in the miscellaneous side, we expect to see more market share in the miscellaneous side, SME and parametric and such other lines.
Okay, thank you. That is from my side.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Tanya Kothari from AUM Capital Private Limited. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Good afternoon to the management team, and thank you for the detailed presentations. I just have a couple of questions. The company has provided around INR 2,026 crore towards wage revision this quarter, including INR 824 crore for retired employees. Is this provision now fully reflective of the expected liability, or investors should wait for further adjustments?
It is already provided for completely.
Except for FPS.
The FPS is one thing which, as we clarified, that is going to be taken care of in the last quarter, but all other things are already provided for till this Q3. It's already completely provided for. There's going to be no enhancement here.
My second question is, management indicated focus on segments beyond motor and health due to competitive investment intensity. So, which segments in fire, marine and engineering can deliver profitable growth, and what is your medium-term next target?
Fire has always been a mainstay, and we've been leading this market in fire and continue to do that. And fire is an area where we are definitely ahead of the market, and we'll continue to be there. Marine is an area where New India has traditionally been leading, especially in marine hull. We'll continue to do that, and only for this quarter, I think, because of a couple of unusual losses, we've had this loss numbers. Otherwise, marine has also been performing quite well for us. As far as the health and PA, the risk selection, the fraud monitoring exercise that we have, strategy that we have employed has paid off for us, as we can see, and we'll continue on the same lines.
For the others, where we have in miscellaneous and others, other lines like parametric, surety, we already are leading the market, and we'll continue to have this major presence in the market and continue to have our mainstay there.
Yes. Ma'am, despite strong PAT growth, ROE remains modest at around 5%. What are the key levers management is focusing on to structurally improve ROE, whether it is underwriting discipline or expense control or capital efficiency?
So, basically, there are... All of these parameters have contributed to this, to this growth. Yeah. Actually, we'll elaborate on this.
Yeah, coming to ROE, right now, it is under single digits. The focus is to bring it up to the double digits, and the primary lever will be to reduce the ICR. The results are quite sensitive to the swings in ICR, with every percentage improvement creating quite a substantial improvement in the PAT. So, the aim is to improve the ICR in order to increase the profitability and thereby increase ROE. So, the first goal is to reach double digit-
...Okay. So, the budget did not include major direct support for the general insurance sector, though it introduced a tax exemption on interest awarded in motor accident claims. Do you view this change in the broader policy environment for general insurance in the budget, especially in terms of improving penetration, competitiveness or the pricing dynamics, sir?
Let me focus.
Yeah. So, basically, New India has declared this year as the year of SME, and, we are totally committed to seeing that we are able to, give support to the large population of SMEs, which form around 1.6 crores. And, we want to see that we are, absolutely in line with the government's, intention to see that they are financially included, and the budget that has given, now so many enablement for the MSME sector. So, this opens up a lot of insurance opportunities for us, where credit is concerned, where overall, protection for the SME is concerned, and also the, expansion into tier three, tier two, tier three cities. So, I think all of this will contribute to New India expanding its book on MSME.
Already we are actively, you know, engaging in awareness programs for MSMEs across the country. We are liaising with agencies like Dun & Bradstreet, ET Now, and such media agencies to ensure that we have these shows where we bring in a lot of awareness for MSMEs. The MSME book has also grown by 36% up to November 25, and we know that this is going to grow in the months to come.
Okay, ma'am. Thank you so much. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Raj Jain, an individual investor. Please go ahead.
Hello. Hello. Thanks for the opportunity, ma'am. So, I have a few questions. The first will be, first will be on the segmental wise performance. So, can you, throw some light on the segment wise performance, especially on the other business? Because we, if you see, we have de-grown by 26% on quarter-on-quarter basis. So, what exactly happened in this quarter, where we, declined, 26% that much?
Crop insurance.
Mainly because of crop.
There is others. We have de-grown by 26%, that is in the other segment. That was mainly because of crop insurance. Basically, we don't write crop on a direct basis. In the market, we used to write crop as a reinsurer for Agriculture Insurance Corporation. This year, because of some regulatory issues, agriculture insurance couldn't see this business on a reinsurance basis, and therefore, there we have de-grown significantly because... Yes.
Yeah, and just to put some numbers, our crop, the others include both crop and, the miscellaneous segment. Crop, the premium has come down from INR 180 crores last year, same quarter, to INR 5.7 crores, whereas in the miscellaneous other segment, which, is our focus area, the premium has gone up from INR 246 crore to INR 309 crore, which is an increase of close to 26%. So, because the crop premium came down, overall basis, you are seeing this number of -26. Otherwise, if you see within that, excluding crop, the business has grown by 26%.
Okay. So, my next question would be on the, if we exclude the wage revision impact, what would be the combined operating ratios look like for Q3 or for the 9 months for this year?
Yeah. Yeah, without the impact of the wage revision, the COR would have been, for the quarter would have been 110.13%, as compared to...
Yes.
As compared to 117.98, which is including the wage revision. This is for the quarter. And after the quarter, with the wage revision, the COR was 124%, and without the wage revision provision, it would have been 117.6%.
Okay. And my last question is on your new business line. Like you are entering into a new business line for, like, for a parametric. So, can you just give me some roadmap or what are your plans and what are we currently standing at? Some numbers, maybe some ballpark numbers, something.
Yeah. So basically, Parametric Insurance is a new type of insurance, which will take time to pick up in India, because it is, it's not exactly on the principles of insurance, like wherein there's a threshold fixed for a particular weather-related peril, and once the threshold is breached, then everything from ground up is paid. So, whether the person suffers from a loss or not, it is paid. So, this involves a lot of, you know, active collaboration with FinTech companies, InsurTech companies, who understand weather-related perils, who understand the kind of, you know, portfolio that we're insuring, and then they're able to fix up a threshold in a way that, it's not an everyday issue, it's not an everyday loss.
So, basically, this is something that is slowly picked up. We've done 10 or 12 contracts till now, but I think, the days to come, this is being sought after, both from a penetration agenda, because the government wants that, you know, penetration gets done faster and quicker. And parametric ensures that penetration can be done faster because you have to just-- It is possible to, you know, to issue policies for a large number of people at one go from a digital interface, and also to settle claims in no time through the digital interface, wherein people get paid the claims in hours, in minutes.
So, this is something wherein the claim reaches the insured within a few hours of the catastrophe, whereas the normal claim procedure takes a lot of time, lot of processing, and all of that. So, this is something that eases the whole burden of claim processing, and therefore, this is going to be one of the very happening lines of businesses going forward. But as of now, since it is yet to develop, it is slow-
Ladies and gentlemen, the management line has been disconnected. Please hold while we get them reconnected. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for being on hold. We have management connected now. Over to you, ma'am.
Yeah. So, as I said, that, though it, the pickup is not very fast, but it is one of the most sought-after products. People wanting to know more and more about it, many people going for it also, and therefore we see a very big traction for this in the coming year itself.
Okay, okay. Thank you, thank you. That's all from my side.
Thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, that was the last question. I now hand the conference over to Mrs. Girija Subramanian, CMD, New India Assurance Company Limited, for closing comments. Over to you, ma'am.
Thank you. Before we conclude, I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to all our stakeholders for joining us today and for your continued confidence in New India Assurance. Your support plays an important role in strengthening our resolve to uphold the highest standards of service, governance, and operational excellence. I would also like to acknowledge the unwavering commitment of our employees across India and our overseas offices. Their dedication and professionalism continue to be the backbone of this institution, enabling us to serve millions of customers with consistency and care. Most importantly, we remain deeply grateful to our policyholders, who have placed their trust in New India Assurance for over 106 years. Their confidence inspires us to continually improve, innovate, and deliver on our promises with sincerity and accountability.
As we move forward, the management team and I reaffirm our commitment to sustainable growth, prudent risk management, and consistently enhancing our service standards. We will continue to work towards strengthening our operational capabilities, enhancing our digital initiatives, and contributing meaningfully to the development of the insurance sector and the broader economy. Thank you once again for your time and participation. We look forward to your continued engagement.
Thank you very much, ma'am. On behalf of New India Assurance Company Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you all for joining us today, and you may now disconnect your line. Thank you.