1273554,Hemant Kumar, Q.32 F1,The non life insurance industry has been growing in excess of 20% over the last two years however the penetration was as low as 0.7% of the GDP in FY10 comment?

Definition of 'General Insurance'

Definition: Insurance contracts that do not come under the ambit of life insurance are called general insurance. The different forms of general insurance are fire, marine, motor, accident and other miscellaneous non-life insurance.

Description: The tangible assets are susceptible to damages and a need to protect the economic value of the assets is needed. For this purpose, general insurance products are bought as they provide protection against unforeseeable contingencies like damage and loss of the asset. Like life insurance, general insurance products come at a price in the form of premium.

Classification of Indian Insurance Industry

General Insurance is also known as Non-Life Insurance in India. There are totally 16 General Insurance (Non-Life) Companies in India.

Discussion

General insurance to grow 20% over two year

General insurance major Iffco-Tokio said the segment in the country is expected to grow by around 20 per cent this fiscal, with the automobile and health sectors providing the major impetus.
The company, a 74-26 per cent joint venture between Indian Farmers Fertilizer Cooperative Ltd (IIFCO) and Japan's largest insurance group Tokyo Marine and Nichido Fire, also said the momentum was likely to continue, albeit at a slower pace next fiscal.
"In the first six months of this fiscal, the general insurance segment in India saw a 22 per cent growth, which was phenomenal. In the second half also, we expect the segment to perform well and end the fiscal with an average growth of 20 per cent," Iffco-Tokio General Insurance Managing Director and CEO S Narayanan said here.

Life insurance penetration was low in FY 2010

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Insurance penetration in Asian countries

Insurance penetration is measured as a ratio of premium to Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Here is a look at the insurance penetration in the emerging Asian countries in 2010. The total penetration is a sum of individual penetration in the life insurance and non-life insurance space.
Taiwan has the highest insurance penetration of 18.4%, while the lowest penetration stands at 0.7%.

Conclusion

The total insurance penetration in India dropped to 5.1% in the financial year 2010-2011 from 5.2% in 2009-2010. This was primarily due to a drop in the life insurance penetration from 4.6% in 2009 to 4.4% in 2010. On the other hand, the general insurance or non-life insurance saw an increase in penetration from 0.6% in 2009 to 0.7% in 2010.