Mumbai, Dec 10 (IANS): Non-life insurer Bharti AXA General Insurance Company Ltd on Monday said it has posted 38 per cent premium growth and a net profit of Rs 3.3 crore during the April-September half of the current fiscal.

In a statement issued here, the company said its gross written premium (GWP)for the first half of the fiscal was Rs.1,087 crore, up from the Rs 788 crore during the corresponding period of the previous year.

The company posted a profit of Rs.3.3 crore during the first six months of the fiscal against a net loss of Rs.59.3 crore logged during the corresponding period of 2017-18.

"We are pleased to be on the path of profitability and this has been an outcome of superior risk selection, improved operating efficiencies and our razor-sharp focus on automation and digitisation," Sanjeev Srinivasan, the Managing Director and CEO, was quoted as saying in the statement.

The combined ratio, a measure of profitability that takes into account claims and expenses as a proportion of premium, improved by over 15 percentage points to 116.5 per cent in the half-year of 2018-19 from 131.6 per cent in the same period of 2017-18.

At the same time, its loss ratio has reduced to 77.8 per cent in the first half of the current fiscal from 85.7 per cent in the same period a year ago, while expense ratio witnessed a significant dip at 38.7 percent in the half-year of 2018-19 against 45.9 per cent in the corresponding period of 2017-18.

"Our continued focus on increasing distribution network and business alliances has been a key driver for the company's overall growth in both retail and corporate business," Srinivasan said.

Apart from retail business that grew by 19 per cent in the first half of 2018-19, Bharti AXA General Insurance also saw its corporate business growing by 67 per cent in the same period. Further, crop insurance surged by 91 per cent during the April-September period of 2018-19.