Bharti AXA gen insurance to infuse Rs 60 cr by Oct: Official

"We plan to infuse Rs 60 crore capital this month end that will take the total to Rs 460 crore. Over the next two years we, Bharti and joint venture partner AXA, will infuse Rs 200 crore or more in line with the ratio of our stakeholding," Bharti AXA general insurance CEO and Managing Director Amarnath Ananthanarayanan told PTI on the sidelines of a function here.

Bharti AXA is a joint venture between Bharti that holds 74 per cent equity and AXA with 26 per cent. He said the company has six products in the pipeline which are waiting for Insurance Development and Regulatory Authority (IRDA) approval.

Of those, three products are under the health category, one a mix of health and retirement and another under motor. Currently, the company, which enjoys 3.5 per cent of the market share, has over 56 products.

The company collected Rs 320 crore premium last year and is planning to increase it by 70 per cent this fiscal, he said. Going forward, he said, the company is planning to focus on health segment and increase it to 26 per cent from the current 20 per cent of the total business.

Till September, the company ties up with 3,700 hospitals for cashless option, Ananthanarayanan said. The insurer gets 60 per cent of its business from the motor segment, which will be subsequently reduced to 55 per cent, he said.

Bharti AXA general insurance is present in 120 locations across the country employing 1,300 employees.

"We are planning to take up our location to 200 by the end of this fiscal and hire another 700 people taking it to 2,000 people by the end of this fiscal," he said.

Ananthanarayanan said, the company is targeting to break even by 2013. The net incurred claims till September is about Rs 43 crore in health and Rs 122 crore in motor, while the total number of claims is about 60,000, he said.