SBI General Insurance Company, the general insurance arm of State Bank of India (SBI), has successfully achieved premium income of Rs 11.88 billion during the FY 2013-143, registering an impressive 54% growth.

Bhaskar J Sarma, MD & CEO of SBI General Insurance said, ''We are satisfied with our growth during the last FY, against the backdrop of Industry slowdown. We emerged as one of the fastest growing players in General Insurance Industry and crossed the Rs 10 billion mark in just the 4th year of our operations. We expanded our footprint to over 400 locations pan India - through our own branch network in 56 locations and presence in another 350+ locations through satellite resources during the last FY.''

During the last FY SBI General generated 65% of its business from the retail segment. The SME segment contributed nearly 21%, while corporate segment accounted for 13%. 

Sarma added, ''We are especially happy with the way our retail and SME Business Segments are growing. Retail segment registered a growth of 66% and SME Segment registered a growth of 70% during the last FY.'' 

Talking about the distribution channels used by SBI General, Sarma said, ''Bancassurance is the lead Channel with a contribution of 65%, followed by agency channel with 23%, broker channel with 10% and direct channel contributing the balance 2% of the premium income.''

Shares of the company gained Rs 45.3, or 2.02%, to trade at Rs 2,289.05. The total volume of shares traded was 441,194 at the BSE (1.18 p.m., Tuesday).