Private general insurance company SBI General Insurance, after posting its first-ever underwriting profit in the financial year ended 31 March 2018 (FY2018), is looking to launch its initial public offering by March 2019.

The company posted profit after tax (PAT) of INR3.96 billion (US$59 million) in FY2018 compared to INR1.53 billion in FY2017. This was primarily due to an extraordinary income of INR1.31 billion, Mr Pushan Mahapatra, MD & CEO, SBI General Insurance, told Moneycontrol.

He also said, “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 INR500 million remains which will be wiped off.”

Among the various lines of business, motor insurance had the highest share of the pie at 28% for SBI General. This was followed by fire insurance at 23% and crop insurance at 20%. Health and personal accident insurance came at 14% each for FY2018.

In FY2019, SBI General expects to grow further in health, motor as also the small and medium enterprises segment, said Mr Mahapatra.