New Delhi, July 16 -- Aggressive pricing in India's fire insurance market is unlikely to last as mounting underwriting losses and weakening capital force insurers to pull back, ICICI Lombard's management said on Wednesday, arguing that long-term growth cannot be built on uneconomic pricing.

Managing director and chief executive Sanjeev Mantri of the insurer said pricing that moves too far above or below sustainable levels eventually corrects. "Anything which is superfluously way above the normal or way below will have a tendency to correct," he told analysts in a post-earnings call. Operational efficiency, rather than aggressive pricing, would determine long-term winners, Mantri added.

Chief financial officer Gopal Balachandran said ins...