By IANS,
Chennai : State-run non-life insurer Oriental Insurance may report a fall of around Rs.150 crore in its investment income this fiscal due to the downslide in the financial markets, a top official said here Sunday.
“For the current fiscal, the tax before profit will be around Rs.220 crore against Rs.450 crore the previous year,” Oriental Insurance chairman-cum-managing director (CMD) M. Ramadoss told reporters.
He was here to address a seminar on opportunities for chartered accountants in the insurance industry.
Ramadoss added that the company was not interested in any brand changing exercise, but would focus on delivering “true value to the policyholder by reducing the time taken for claims settlement”.
He said the company would launch new customer-friendly services.
“We plan to launch a new portal in which the claims details will be uploaded and a policyholder can know the status of his or her claim. We will be first company to have such a portal,” Ramadoss said.
The company will also deliver around 10 products through the portal, he said.
On an experimental basis, Oriental Insurance has opened full-fledged vehicle insurance claims settling offices in 15 cities.
“From 78 days, the average time that needs to settle a vehicle damage claim has come down to 15 days. The model is working and we plan to expand that to other cities,” he added.
Another state-run non-insurer United India’s CMD G. Srinivasan, who also addressed the seminar, said his company has improved its market share this fiscal.
“We have grown our topline. We have improved our market share for the first time since the industry was opened up for private players,” Srinivasan said.
He said the company’s underwriting performance was expected to be good this fiscal owing to prudent claims management and underwriting of risks.