General Insurance Corporation(GIC) - Institutional financing in India, Indian Financial System | Indian Financial System - B Com PDF Download

The General Insurance Corporation (GIC) was formed by Central Government in 1972. With effect from January 1, 1973 the erstwhile 107 Indian and foreign insurance companies who were operating in the country prior to nationalisation, were grouped into four operating companies, namely,

(a) National Insurance Company Limited.

(b) New India Assurance Company Limited.

(c) Oriental Insurance Company Limited.

(d) United Insurance Company Limited.

With head offices at Kolkata, Mumbai, New Delhi and Chennai, respectively GIC which was the holding company of the four public sector general insurance companies has since been delinked from the later and has been approved as the ‘Indian Reinsurer’ since 3 November 2000. All the four entities are Government companies registered under Companies Act.

The General Insurance business has grown in spread and volume after nationalisation. The tour companies have 2, 699 branch offices, 1,360 divisional offices and 92 regional offices spread all-over the country.

Activities of GIC:

Some of the schemes in operation of the benefit of poor are the personal account insurance, social security scheme, hut insurance scheme for poor families in rural areas and crop insurance scheme.

Besides the domestic market, the GIC is presently operating in 16 countries directly through branches or agencies and in 14 countries through subsidiary and associate companies. The wholly owned subsidiary of GIC known as Indian International Insurance Private Limited, set up in 1988 in Singapore, has grown into a leading company in the Singapore market.

Performance of GIC:

The gross premium income of the nationalised general insurance industry in India during 1999- 2000 was Rs. 9,523 crore as against Rs. 8,759 crore during 1998-99, representing a growth of 8,72 percent over the premium income of 1998-99.

The net premium income of the nationalised general insurance industry in India during the year 1999-2000 was Rs. 8,649 crore as against Rs. 7,732 crore in 1998-99, representing a growth of 11.86 percent over the net premium income of 1998-99.

The gross profit of the industry during 1999-2000 was Rs. 1,152 crore as against Rs. 1,467 crore in 1998-99. Similarly, the net profit of the industry during the year 1999-2000 was Rs. 1,077 crore as against Rs. 874 crore in 1998-99.

According to the latest report the net profit of the Industry during 2001-02 amounted to Rs. 12,229 crore, as against Rs. 10,772 crore during 2000-01 representing a growth of 13.52 percent over the premium income of last year.