New business premium of life insurance companies grew to Rs. 92,065 crore in April-September 2017 compared to Rs. 76,236 crore in the corresponding period last year.
Most of the new business premium has come to LIC. Beating the industry’s average, country’s largest life insurer, LIC’s premium grew from Rs.55,163 in HFY 2016-17 to Rs. 68,224 crore in the corresponding period this fiscal.
Experts attribute the growth in new business premium of LIC to the substantial inflows in ULIP.
On the other hand, 23 private players mopped additional 13% new business premium as it grew from Rs. 21,072 crore in April-September 2016 to Rs. 23,841 crore in April-September 2017. Amongst private life insurers, HDFC Standard Life collected the highest first-year premium of Rs.4,402 crore, overtaking ICICI Prudential (Rs 4,246 crore) and SBI Life (Rs. 4,284 crore).
While private life insurers saw the highest growth in regular premiums in the individual segment, LIC saw highest growth in its group single premium business.
In terms of number of policies, the industry has registered a growth of around 6% to 1.11 crore in the first half of the FY 2017-18 compared to 1.05 crore in the corresponding period last year.
