M. Ramadoss next chairman of New India Assurance

Chennai, Dec 29: M. Ramadoss, the current chairman and managing director of the Delhi-headquartered Oriental Insurance Co, has been selected to head the country's leading non-life insurer New India Assurance.

Ramadoss will be succeeded by R.K. Kaul, currently general manager with the Kolkata-based National Insurance.

Both will assume their new offices Wednesday.

The Mumbai-based New India Assurance had been headless for nearly two months, with A.R. Sekar, the company's general manager, working as its acting chief.

The normal practice is to transfer the senior-most among the chairmen-and-managing directors of the three other public sector general insurers -- National Insurance, Oriental Insurance and United India Insurance -- as the chief of New India Assurance.

The new postings of Ramadoss and Kaul were long expected but had been delayed for unspecified reasons.

In the first eight months of the current fiscal, the four government-owned general insurers have procured a premium income of Rs.13,128 crore, posting an impressive growth of 11.05 over the corresponding period last year.