Indian private insurer SBI General Insurance is aiming to launch its initial public offering (IPO) in 2019/20 after posting its maiden underwriting profit for the financial year ended 31 March 2018 (FY2018).
In an interview with Moneycontrol, SBI General Insurance MD & CEO Pushan Mahapatra said that the company, which is a subsidiary of State Bank of India, expects to come out with its IPO during FY2020, adding that its promoter State Bank of India has said that the IPO process will be conducted in FY2020.
This comes after SBI's life insurance arm was listed in September 2017.
The company posted net profit of INR3.96bn ($59mn) in FY2018 compared to INR1.53bn in FY2017. This was primarily due to an extraordinary income of INR1.31bn, said Mahapatra.
“Moving towards an underwriting profit for the first time has been a positive development. Over and above this, we have also recorded a lower loss ratio and minimised our operating expenses further. In terms of the accumulated losses, a little over INR500mn remains which will be wiped off,” he explained.
In FY2019, SBI General expects to grow further in health, motor as also the small and medium enterprises segment, Mahapatra added.
