The share of life insurance policies sold in rural areas by top private insurers fell in the financial year ended on 31 March 2024 (FY24), compared to previous financial year.
SBI Life, HDFC Life, and ICICI Prudential Life Insurance—the top three players from the private sector—have seen their share of insurance policies sold in rural areas drop in FY24 as compared to the previous financial year. However, Max Life Insurance’s share of rural policies rose in FY24, reported Business Standard.
State-run Life Insurance Corporation of India’s share of insurance policies sold in rural areas jumped from 22.25% in FY23 to 47.72% in FY24.
In the Union Budget for FY24, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed that insurance policies (excluding unit-linked insurance plans) with an aggregate premium exceeding INR500,000 ($5,960), and the maturity amount, would not be exempt from tax.
This rule came into effect on 1 April 2023 (the start of FY24) which led to a surge in the sale of policies in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities in March 2023. However, the growth of rural and social sector policies grew at a normalised rate lowering the share of policies sold in rural areas compared to FY23.
% of policies sold in the rural sector to total policies
|
Life Insurance Companies
|
FY24
|
FY23
|
Change
|
|
Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC)
|
47.72%
|
22.25%
|
+25.47 ppt
|
|
SBI Life Insurance
|
30.78%
|
31.87%
|
-1.09 ppt
|
|
HDFC Life Insurance
|
23.61%
|
30.44%
|
-6.83 ppt
|
|
ICICI Pru Life Insurance
|
20.90%
|
22.63%
|
-1.73 ppt
|
|
Max Life Insurance
|
23.90%
|
21.13%
|
+2.78 ppt
|