Kochi: The National Insurance Company Ltd. will recruit 20,000 agents as part of its proposed intensification of its activities in the country. This was stated by chairman and managing director H S Wadhwa said at a press conference on Thursday.

National Insurance, which has become the second largest public sector general insurance companiy, already has around 50,000 agents attached to its 1,000 offices.

Apart from this, the company will also start 500 one-man extension counters from August 1. These counters will undertake all the functions of a normal branch including claims settlements.

The company has targeted a premium of Rs4,365 crore for the current year. Last year, it achieved a sum of Rs 3,417 crore. The company has been surpassing the industry growth in the last three years, he said. The growth touched 28 percent in the first quarter of the current fiscal as against industry growth of one percent.

The company is set to become the top general insurance company by the end of the current year. According to Wadhwa, the claim amount in health insurance sector has come down from 150 percent to less than 100 percent with the arrival of third party administrators (TPAs).

It is expected to come down further to 70 percent, he said. In Kerala, the insurance company has been rated as the second best player. In the last five years, it has been growing by over 17 per cent and last year its premium income was Rs138 crore. A conference of the divisional and branch managers of the National Insurance Company Ltd is being held in Kochi from July 22 to 24