Australian and Japanese natural disasters have pushed New India Assurance into a loss for the first time in its 90-year history.

The insurer has reported a net loss of Rs4.21 billion ($8.6 million) for the financial year ending March 31.

The bulk of the loss, Rs3 billion ($6.1 million), came from offering reinsurance in Australia and NZ as well as some insured property damage.

New India also provided cover for the Tokyo Electric Power Company, operators of Fukushima nuclear power plant which suffered major damage as a result of the tsunami.

The insurer also suffered claims in Bahrain, where a number of department stores were damaged in civil unrest.

New India Chairman and MD M Ramadoss says all these events have combined to force the insurer into a loss.

“We incurred the losses from our reinsurance arrangements,” he said. “We also had to meet our share of the liabilities in these claims.”

Although no official figures are available at this stage, it is estimated New India earned about Rs1.7 billion ($3.5 million) from premiums generated outside the country.

In the 2010 financial year, gross premium from foreign operations was Rs1.5 billion ($3 million) while claims were Rs680 million ($1.4 million).

Mr Ramadoss says the insurer still has a solvency ratio of 3.5 times its insured liabilities.

This exceeds the requirements of the Indian Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority which requires a margin of 1.3 times the insured liabilities.