Part-3: Public & Private Insurance Companies in implementation of PMFBY﻿
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
October 11, 2019
A total of 18
insurance companies are empanelled to implement the PMFBY. Of these, 5 are
public sector companies and the rest are private companies. How do the public
& private companies compare with respect to premium, claim settlement ?
In the previous story on Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), we looked at in detail, the number of farmers enrolling under the scheme and their variation with seasons. The numbers related to claims were also looked into. In this story, we look at the insurance companies, claim settlements made by them and if there is any difference between claim settlements by private and public sector insurance companies.
Five
public general insurance companies and eight private general insurance
companies have been empanelled under PMFBY
A total of 18 general insurance
companies have been empanelled for implementing thescheme in the states which have opted to be a part of PMFBY. Of the 18 companies, 5 are publicsector insurance companies while the remaining 13 are private companies. As perthe scheme guidelines, it is the responsibility of the state government to findinsurance companies in their state for implementation of the scheme. The stategovernments invite tenders from both public and private companies to implement PMFBY.The selection of companies is done based on the lowest bidder.
Public
companies paid claims worth 93% of gross premium while private companies paid
only 76% in 2017-18
In 2016-17, a total of Rs. 22,010crores gross premium was paid to the insurance companies. Premium collected byprivate and public sector insurance companies was more or less similar in2016-17 with private companies collecting a premium of Rs. 114 crores more thanpublic sector ones. In the same year, the total claims paid amounted to 75.5%of gross premium. While private companies paid claims worth 71.4% of thepremium, the public sector companies paid 80% of the gross premium. In thesubsequent year, 2017-18, it was observed that Rs. 25,481 crores were the totalgross premium collected. Private companies accounted for 47% of the grosspremium and the remaining 53% was with the public companies.
In 2017-18, the private companies paid claims amounting to 76% of gross premium collected whereas the public companies paid claims worth 93% of the gross premium resulting in a total of 85% claims compared to the premium amount. Data for 2018-19 shows that 57.6% of the total gross premium collected was with the private companies as compared to 42.4% with their public counterparts. The claims paid in 2018-19 amounted to 41.2% of premium in total. Private companies in 2018-19 paid claims which is 36.4% of gross premium paid while the public companies have paid claims equal to 47.8% of the gross premium. Since the data for 2018-19 is still provisions, these numbers are on the lower side.
Claim
ratio is greater for public companies as compared to private general insurance
companies
In this context, claim ratio refers the percentage of estimated claim against gross premium. Claim ratio was observed to be greater for public insurance companies than that for the private insurance companies. It is also evident from the chart that claim ratio is greater for Rabi crops.  The data for Rabi 2018-19 is provisional.
Claim ratio was found out to be the highest in 2016-17 for New India Assurance which is a public insurance company when it touched 259%. This was followed by TATA AIG General Insurance, a private insurance company, whose claim ratio was as high as 119%. Not far behind, Universal Sompo General Insurance was next in line with a claim ratio of 117%. In the following year, 2017-18, six insurance companies had a claim ratio of above 100%. These include three public companies- Agriculture Insurance Company, Oriental Insurance and National Insurance, and three private companies- ICICI Lombard General Insurance, IFFCO Tokio General Insurance and TATA AIG General Insurance. But in general, as noted in the chart above, the claim ratio for public companies is generally higher than the private companies.
Agriculture
Insurance Company of India has the largest share in gross premium collected
In the year 2016-17, 87% of the premiumwas with only 7 insurance companies which include 2 public companies. In2017-18, 89% of the premium was with 9 companies which also include four publiccompanies except Oriental Insurance. In 2018-19, 94% of the premium was with 13companies. Every year, Agriculture Insurance Company (AIC), a public sectorinsurance company, which covers the largest number of farmers in the world hasbeen at the top with the maximum premium even though an annual decline in thepremium amount is witnessed. In 2016-17, AIC’s share amounted to 42% of thetotal premium. In the consecutive years, this fell to 31% in 2017-18 and 26% in2018-19. Similar is the case with other public insurance companies exceptOriental Insurance. A general declining trend in premium share is observedbetween 2017-18 and 2018-19 for public companies.
Number
of private insurance companies which have more than Rs. 1500 crore collected as
premium is increasing every year
Among the private companies, ICICILombard General Insurance has consistently had premium above Rs. 2000 crores ineach of the years from 2016-17 to 2018-19. (highest in 2017-18 and 2018-19among private companies). Though the total amount of premium has increasedannually, the share of premium for ICICI Lombard among all private companieshas decreased from 21% in 2016-17 to 16% in 2018-19. This is because everyyear, more and more private insurance companies are crossing the Rs. 1500crores mark in terms of premium collected. While only 2 companies had crossedthe Rs. 1500 crore mark in 2016-17, in the subsequent year, 2017-18, 3companies had crossed the mark. In 2018-19, a total of 7 private companies and2 public companies have crossed the mark. HDFC Ergo General Insurance, RelianceGeneral Insurance and Bajaj Allianz General Insurance are three other privatecompanies who have managed to get premium above Rs. 1000 crores in each of thethree years.
Government
of India targets to cover at least 50% Gross Cropped Area under PMFBY
The government has set a target to cover a minimum of 50% of Gross Cropped Area under PMFBY.  Various measures such as spreading awareness, providing aid to states to encourage them to adopt the scheme and reducing the premium rate for farmers have also been taken in order to attain the target.
Inadequate payments, delay in payment,unrealistic crop damage assessment, discrepancy in crop yield data are some ofthe shortcomings identified in theimplementation. Meanwhile, as of 30 June 2019, 102 court cases havebeen filed by farmers and farmer organisations against insurance companies andgovernments for varied reasons including claim settlement.
The erratic weather conditions are only increasing by the day, impacting crop yields. Hence, it is necessary that the government addresses the issues faced by the farmers and resolve them immediately and ensure effective implementation of the scheme.
Featured Image: Implementation of PMFBY﻿