Life insurance premium mop-up down 19% in Apr-Nov

However, premium collected by general insurers rises 24%.

Premium collection numbers by the life insurance industry remain south-bound, as policy issuances by the industry continue to decline in the current financial year.

During the April-November period, the number of policies issued by the 23 life insurance players shrunk 12.45 per cent, resulting in a fall of almost 19 per cent in premium collection at Rs 62,429 crore, compared with Rs 76,990 crore collected in the same period a year ago.

According to data collected by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority, during 2011-12, the life insurance industry sold 23.07 million policies, compared with 26.35 million policies last year. This was largely due to fewer policies sold by private players, from 6.99 million in the year-ago period to 4.75 million, a decline of 32 per cent.

The largest life insurer, Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India, too, saw policy issuances decline by 5.3 per cent to 18.31 million.

During the April-November period, premium collection by LIC fell 17.57 per cent, while for its private peers, the collection was down 22.4 per cent. While LIC collected Rs 45,759 crore by writing new policies, private insurers collected Rs 16,670 crore.

Considering the choppy equity market and the high inflationary environment, sales of unit-linked insurance products are unlikely to pick up in the current financial year. Experts fear the growth of the life insurance industry is likely to remain subdued over the next six to 12 months.

General insurers grow 24%
The general insurance industry continues to see steady growth, as the gross written premium rose 24.3 per cent during 2011-12, compared to the previous year.

According to data collected by insurers, the general insurance industry collected premiums worth Rs 37,360 crore by writing new policies during the April-November period, against Rs 30,047 crore last year.

While private insurers registered a growth of 26.8 per cent at Rs 15,555 crore, the four state-owned general insurance companies’ collection was higher by 22.7 per cent at Rs 21,805 crore.