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Many believe that life insurance agents and intermediaries earn commission in at least two digits. However, an analysis of commission income paid by insurance companies with respect to the total premium (new business premium + renewal premium) done by Cafemutual shows that insurance agents and intermediaries earn single digit commission.
The analysis shows that agents and intermediaries earn gross commission of 5% of the total premium in FY 2023.
Of the total premium collection of Rs.7.75 lakh crore received by life insurance, insurance companies paid gross commission of Rs.42,150 crore to agents/intermediaries in FY 2022-23. Please note that gross commission is subject to taxes like GST and income tax.
This is due to lower commission on single premium policies and renewal premium. While life insurance agents get 2% commission on single premium policies, they get 3-5% commission on renewal premium.
In FY 2021-22, life insurers paid gross commission of Rs.36,000 crore, which was also 5% of the total premium received.
Interestingly, while the gross commission income of agents and intermediaries increased over the four financial years in absolute terms, the percentage of gross commission to the total life premium did not change in the corresponding period. During all these years, it remained 5% of the total premium received by life insurers. Let us look at this table to know more:
Financial |
Gross commission paid |
Total premium received |
Percentage of commission |
2022-23 |
42142 |
775000 |
5% |
2021-22 |
35887 |
693000 |
5% |
2020-21 |
32994 |
629000 |
5% |
2019-20 |
31192 |
573000 |
5% |