LIC new premium income falls 21% in February

Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), the country’s largest life insurer, posted a 21 per cent on year fall in new premium income in February at Rs 4,030 crore.

This decline follows a whopping 73 per cent growth in new premium income in January on the back of single-premium, close-ended term policy Jeevan Aastha, which garnered Rs 9,300 crore in December and January combined.

Also, the fall shrunk LIC’s market share in terms of new premium income to 60 per cent in February from 79.7 per cent in the previous month.

According to the latest data from the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority, private sector insurers fared equally worse with new premium income dropping 29 per cent to Rs 2,655 crore in February.

The entire sector’s total first year premium stood at Rs 6,680 crore in February, down 24.5 per cent on year. First year premium income is an indicator of new business generated by insurance companies.

In April-February, the entire sector clocked a marginal growth of 0.06 per cent. The state-run insurer’s first year premium fell 4.2 per cent to Rs 43,883 crore, while private sector players registered a 6.71 per cent rise to Rs 28,133 crore.

ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, the largest private sector life insurance company, saw a 12.4 per cent drop in first year premium at Rs 5,925 crore. On the other hand, second largest private sector player, SBI Life Insurance, witnessed a 22.53 per cent rise in new premium income at Rs 4,348 crore.

Bajaj Alliance saw de-growth of 28.3 per cent during the first nine months, while HDFC Standard Life managed to register a 6.8 per cent increase. In the first nine months, private sector players captured close to 40 per cent of the first year premium income market.

India opened up the insurance sector for private and foreign investment in 2000. The cap on foreign direct investment in India is at 49 per cent.