After the first few years of the decade when the business contracted, India’s insurance sector continues to grow well and the premium-to-GDP ratio was 3.5% in 2016, down from 5.2% in 2009 but up from 2.7% in 2001. When looked at number of persons covered—instead of just the premium paid—with 5.3 crore persons covered by the Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana and 13.47 crore by Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana, the coverage looks better. During FY18, the first-year life-insurance premiums rose 16.3% on top of 20.9% in FY17 and 12.3% in FY16. Interestingly, for the first time since the sector was opened to private players in 2000, the share of LIC went to below half at 49.1%.
