Birla Sun Life, MetLife reported decline in sales of new life insurance policies
Mumbai: HDFC Life, SBI Life, Max New York Life and ICICI Prudential saw a surge in the first year premium figures while Birla Sun Life, MetLife witnessed a decline in sales of new life insurance policies.
At the end of March 31, 2011, HDFC Life saw an increase of about 27%, Max New York Life of 10%, Indiafirst Life 155%, SBI Life 7% and ICICI Prudential 4%.
The insurance industry saw a dip in policy sale due to the fight between the regulators that led to sharp fall in commissions of distributors. Moreover, companies were unable to launch new products in the market as they did not get enough time to train their distributors.
Most private players were affected badly while LIC managed to limit the fall in the business. “Earlier people were interested in investing in ULIPs but after the regulatory changes, people prefer parking their money in fixed deposits,” said a CEO from a leading insurance company.