Life insurers posted a 14% year-on-year growth in new business premiums to INR350.2bn ($4.2bn) in the month of September, primarily driven by a surge in individual non-single premium collections, according to data released by the Life Insurance Council.
The country’s biggest insurer, the state-controlled LIC, saw its new business premiums rise by 12% to INR203.7bn in September, slower that the growth rate shown by private life insurers that posted a 16% jump in new business premiums, totalling CNY146.5bn in September.
However, in the first six months of the current fiscal year ending March 2025 (FY2025), LIC’s new business premium grew by 24.7% year on year to INR1,155.5bn. This was faster than the 12.1% year-on-year increase generated by private life insurers whose new business premiums for the first half of FY2025 reached CNY736.6bn.
|
1HFY2025 First-Year Premiums (INR m)
|
|
Life insurers
|
Apr to Sep 2024
|
Apr to Sep 2023
|
Y-o-Y Growth
|
Market Share
|
|
LIC
|
1,155,498.8
|
926,426.2
|
24.73%
|
61.07%
|
|
Private-sector
|
736,641.6
|
657,341.9
|
12.06%
|
38.93%
|
|
Grand total
|
1,892,140.4
|
1,583,768.1
|
19.47%
|
100.00%
|
|
Source: IRDAI
|
An analysis of new business in the life sector in the first half of this fiscal year shows that LIC’s new-business growth was fuelled by group single-premium products while that of private insurers was driven by individual non-single-premium plans.
|
Product Type
|
1HFY2025 First-year premiums (INR m)
|
|
Total
|
Y-o-Y Growth
|
LIC
|
Y-o-Y Growth
|
Private sector
|
Y-o-Y Growth
|
|
Individual Single Premium
|
238,049.5
|
15.00%
|
137,840.9
|
21.60%
|
100,208.6
|
7.00%
|
|
Individual non-Single Premium
|
503,057.5
|
20.93%
|
157,076.5
|
13.82%
|
345,981.0
|
24.45%
|
|
Group Single Prermium
|
1,078,443.8
|
22.10%
|
831,101.8
|
28.81%
|
247,342.0
|
3.92%
|
|
Group non-Single Premium
|
16,244.8
|
-15.10%
|
15,689.4
|
-15.42%
|
555.4
|
-5.14%
|
|
Group Yearly Renewable Premium
|
56,345.0
|
-3.49%
|
13,790.3
|
22.17%
|
44,554.7
|
-5.39%
|
|
Total
|
1,892,140.4
|
19.47%
|
1,155,498.8
|
24.73%
|
736,641.6
|
12.06%
|
The new rule took effect on 1 October, and has led LIC to reduce first-year insurance agents’ commissions but raise the commission rate for renewal premiums.