Life insurance AUM grows to Rs.28 lakh crore in FY 2016-17

The life insurance industry witnessed an impressive growth in its assets under management (AUM) in FY 2016-17. IRDAI’s annual report shows that life insurance industry’s AUM went up by 14%, from Rs.25.02 lakh crore in FY 2015-16 to Rs. 28.54 lakh crore in FY 2016-17.

All the three categories of life insurance business – traditional policies, pension and ULIPs witnessed healthy growth last fiscal.

The AUM of life policies, which includes traditional policies like whole life, endowment and money back, reached close to Rs.19 lakh crore. The AUM of these policies went up from Rs.16.97 lakh crore to Rs.19.07 lakh crore in FY 2016-17, a growth of 12%.

Similarly, the AUM of pension and general annuity (including group policies) increased to Rs.5.66 lakh crore in FY 2016-17 from Rs.4.64 lakh crore in FY 2015-16.

Surprisingly, the AUM of ULIPs, which saw a continuous decline since 2010, regained some traction last fiscal. Its AUM increased to Rs.3.79 lakh crore in FY 2016-17, from Rs.3.40 lakh crore in FY 2015-16, marking a growth of 11%.

In terms of AUM, LIC maintained its dominance by capturing 80% of the market share in life insurance. The AUM of the state owned company recorded a growth of 13%, up from Rs.20.09 lakh crore in FY 2015-16 to Rs.22.75 lakh crore in FY 2016-17.

In terms of the percentage of growth, the AUM of private life insurers grew faster compared to LIC. Private insurers witnessed a growth of 17% in AUM, from Rs.4.92 lakh crore as on March 2016 to Rs.5.78 lakh crore as on March 2017.

Among the top ten private insurers, ICICI Prudential retained its top position with AUM of over Rs.1 lakh crore (17% growth) while SBI Life stood at the second position with AUM of Rs.96,873 crore (21% growth). Both Max Life Insurance and HDFC Standards recorded the highest growth of 23% in their AUMs.

Barring Tata AIA, all other life insurers witnessed a growth of over 10% in their AUM last fiscal.