INDIAN INSURERS SAY THAT THIRD-PARTY MOTOR RATES WILL NEED TO RISE AGAIN

The Indian non-life industry has welcomed the recent increase in tariffs for third-party motor insurance, but has said that the increases that have been granted are too low to cover segmental losses. General Insurance Council Secretary-General R Chandrasekaran said that "if you see the exposure draft, there was a proposal to increase premium at a higher rate. Even if done at the proposed level, it was inadequate. So, the current rise is too inadequate to cover the losses in this space on the back of rising accidents and claims". Bharti Axa General Insurance managing director and CEO Amarnath Ananthanarayanan said that "de-tariffing motor third-party premium would help the customers more as in this case good customers would enjoy lower premium as opposed to the current scenario wherein good customers are subsidizing the bad customers". Third-party rates have risen by an average of 18.9%, compared with rate increases of between 35% and 60% that were proposed in February by the Insurance Regulatory & Development Authority (Irda).