ICICI Prudential sold 5 lakh rural policies in FY06

Lucknow, June 9 (UNI) India's leading private life insurance company ICICI Prudential Life Insurance has achieved a landmark figure of half-a-million rural policies during the last fiscal -- the first private life insurer to reach the mark.

The company achieved a combined figure of 2 million policies in FY06.

Addressing a news conference here today, ICICI Prudential Head Marketing Sujit Ganguli said the company was focussing on tapping the rural market of the country.

''We are also bullist on maintaining our dominance in retirement space, besides accidental and health insurance, that continues to lead the insurance sector,'' he added.

ICICI Prudential registered a 64 per cent growth in weighted new business premium in the last financial year, taking its premium up to Rs 2,412 crore.

''In the period, the company has written over 8.37 lakh retail policies and the sum assured in force stands at Rs 45,888 crore, a growth of 65 per cent,'' Mr Ganguli informed.

The company has an overall market share of over 9 per cent, while it corrosponds to 30 per cent among the private life insurance players in India.

The Funds under Management (FUM) increased by 130 per cent to Rs 8,822 crore. On the back of fund movement from companies, group business premium increased by 157 per cent to Rs 286 crore -- contributing 7 per cent of the total premium.

ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Comapany is a joint venture between ICICI Bank and Prudential plc -- a leading international financial services group headquartered in the UK.

It was the first amongst first private sector insurance companies to begin operations in December 2000 after receiving approval from the Insurance Regulatory Development Authority (IRDA).

''We have a strong presence in Uttar Pradesh with about 86 per cent market share among private insurers,'' Mr Ganguli added.

''The insurance sector is progressing at an annual rate of 15-20 per cent, posting positive growth figures year-on-year,'' he later told UNI on the sidelines.

''Our strong presence in the market has resulted in the declining expense ratio from 74 per cent in 2002 to 14 per cent in 2006, which speaks about our professional fund management,'' he underlined.

However, the ICICI Prudential official declined to reveal the targetted growth figures for FY07 claiming the listed entity was bound by stock market regulations.

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