Dubai: The New India Assurance Company Ltd (NIA), a government of India-owned insurance company, said on Thursday that it will open its regional hub in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC).
The new regional hub will be the company’s administrative control headquarters for its operations across the GCC.
“We are all set to open our DIFC office any time now. The new office will house a claims settlement centre,” said Sanathkumar, Director and General Manager of NIA.
“We have positioned it as a single point contact for Indian businessmen and entrepreneurs moving into GCC, apart from the business entities which are based in the region and are involved in the execution of various projects,” Sanathkumar said on the sidelines of launching a new series of DHA-compliant health insurance policies.
“The DIFC office will instill confidence and offer a seamless channel of communication to our customers, particularly to those Indian businessmen who have GCC interests. Most of these entrepreneurs are our own customers and opening the DIFC office will help us carry forward the confidence they have in us to the GCC,” the official said.
The company believes that opening of the claims settlement centre within the DIFC office will also go a long way in addressing claims-related matters “Some of the claims pertaining to this region can be settled here itself rather than going all the way back to India,” he said.
NIA started its operations in 1961 in the UAE, joining hands with the first national firm of ship agents, Rais Hassan Saadi Group. Across the GCC, NIA has five branches — two in the UAE, one office each in Oman, Kuwait and Bahrain.
NIA’s GCC operations now cover whole of GCC markets except Qatar but plans to start its operation there soon.
Apart from GCC, NIA has presence in 27 countries globally through their branches and agencies and has three subsidiary companies and four associate companies. Globally, the NIA business last year was Dh9.4 billion.
In GCC, its business in terms of gross premiums were at Dh642 million in 2014-2015 fiscal year compared to Dh631 million in the previous year.
“In 2014, the NIA business in Dubai alone in terms of gross premium was at Dh203 million and in the UAE it was Dh285 Million,” Sanathkumar said. Oman was the second-largest market for NIA with gross premium at Dh280 million.
