The country’s general insurance business was nationalized with the introduction of the
General Insurance Business (Nationalization) Act (GIBNA), 1972 that led to the emergence
of four fully-owned subsidiaries under GICI1, namely, the National Insurance Company Limited, Oriental Insurance Company Limited, New India Assurance Company Limited, and the United
India Insurance Company Limited. But during the year 2000, the four subsidiaries were delinked
from the parent company (GICI), and were restructured as independent general insurance
companies.
During the pre-reform period, the four public sector general insurers dominated the Indian
general insurance sector with a market share close to 100%. But the situation drastically
changed since the enactment of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India
(IRDAI) Act in 1999. With the IRDAI in place, the country’s insurance market was opened up
for private and foreign participation either independently or in collaboration with Indian partners.
The abrupt rise in the entry of private players in the country’s non-life insurance market
eventually resulted in a decline in the market shares of the public sector general insurers during
the post-reform period. At the end of the FY 2014-15, there were 28 general insurance companies
in India, with 6 public sector and 22 private sector firms. Among the six public-sector general
insurers, while the four public sector insurance companies carried on multi-line operations,
there are two specialized insurance companies: one for credit insurance (ECGC)2 and the other
for crop insurance (AIC)3. The four public sector insurers, namely, the National Insurance
Company Limited, Oriental Insurance Company Limited, New India Assurance Company
Limited and the United India Insurance Company Limited specialize on all forms of
general insurance businesses in India with a collective market share of 50.24% at the end of
FY 2014-15.
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