Chennai, Sep 21 (IANS): Coronavirus eating into the Indian general insurance industry's business and profits? You must be joking.

The 32-player industry's net profit last year zoomed to Rs 3,868.77 crore from a net loss of Rs 1,402.53 crore in 2019-20, as per the data released by General Insurance Council.

Last year the industry not only grew its after tax profit but also logged an overall growth-premium, investment income, foreign direct investment (FDI), number of employees, agents while logging lower claims outgo.

The Indian non-life insurance industry last year comprised 25 general insurers, five stand alone health insurers and two specialised insurers (Agriculture Insurance Company of India Ltd and ECGC Ltd).

According to GIC, in FY21 the industry earned a gross premium of Rs 206,360.96 crore up from Rs 196,133.44 crore in FY20.

The gross incurred claims for the industry in FY21 stood at Rs 148,163.37 crore down from Rs 152,938.20 crore in FY20.

The underwriting result (simply put premium income minus claims outgo) for the industry too saw a positive trend. The industry's underwriting loss went down to Rs 19,416.41 crore in FY21 from Rs 22,859 crore in FY20.

The industry's combined ratio (claims plus expenses divided by premium income) last fiscal was 112 per cent down from 118 per cent the previous year.

The lower the combined ratio, it is better for the insurer. A combined ratio of less than 100 means the insurer is making underwriting profit.

On the investment income side, the industry logged Rs.28,924.16 crore last fiscal up from Rs 27,822.36 crore in FY20.

As regards FDI, the industry got Rs 6,111.15 crore last year up from Rs 4,721.68 crore in FY20.

Similarly, the number of employees increased by four per cent to 142,944 and the agents by 19 per cent to 1,454,759 last fiscal.

On the other hand, the number of offices came down to 11,245 last year from 11,380 in FY20.

The industry had invested a sum of Rs 69,867.30 crore in social sectors last year up from Rs 56,116.70 crore in FY20.