ICICI Lombard outsmarted other private general insurers in the first two months of this fiscal by mopping up Rs 10,137 crore (Rs 101.37 billion) in premium income and cornering 3.27 per cent of the market share in April-May, 2003.

ICICI Lombard posted a 277 per cent growth to mop up Rs 10,137 crore during April-May, 2003, compared to Rs 2,689 crore (Rs 26.89 billion) in the same period last fiscal.

IFFCO Tokio General was at the second position with 2.84 per cent market share after collecting a premium of Rs 8,779 crore (Rs 87.79 billion) till May, which is 110 per cent higher than Rs 4,184 crore (Rs 41.84 billion) in the same period last fiscal, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority sources said in New Delhi on Thursday.

IFFCO Tokio was closely followed by Bajaj Allianz and Tata AIG, they added.

While Bajaj Allianz had a market share of 2.79 per cent with Rs 8,624 crore (Rs 86.24 billion) premium income, Tata AIG cornered 2.16 per cent with Rs 6,686 crore (Rs 66.86 billion) premium.

Royal Sundaram mopped up Rs 4,834 crore (Rs 48.34 billion) in premium income to attain a modest 1.56 per cent pie of the general insurance market till May.

Reliance General witnessed a fall in its growth by 28 per cent at Rs 3,086 crore (Rs 30.86 billion) and shrunk its market share to only 1 per cent.

Late starters HDFC Chubb and Cholamandalam had less than 1 per cent share in the market.

The private players together hiked their market share to 14.50 per cent till May by posting an impressive growth of about 79 per cent and mopping up Rs 44,885 crore (Rs 448.85 billion) in gross premium income.

Last fiscal, the private players had a market share of 9.5 per cent after mopping up Rs 25,089 crore (Rs 250.89 billion) in premium income in the first two months.