Private insurers see healthy growth in profits in 2015-16

Private life insurers saw growth of 26% in their group business and only 13% in their individual business

Private insurance companies have seen healthy growth in profits in 2015-16. ICICI Prudential Life Insurance posted the highest profit of Rs 1,650 crore.

However, industry players said growth in individual premiums was a cause for concern.

Life insurance companies have seen slower growth in individual first-year premiums for 2015-16. While individual first-year premiums saw 5 per cent growth in 2015-16 over 2014-15, group premiums grew 39 per cent. This led to 23 per cent growth overall in 2015-16.

According to provisional data from the Life Insurance Council, life insurers collected premiums of Rs 1.38 lakh crore in 2015-16, up from Rs 1.13 lakh crore in 2014-15. Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) posted 25 per cent growth in first-year premiums. Private insurers clocked 18 per cent growth and collected Rs 40,983 crore in premium.

Private life insurers saw growth of 26 per cent in their group business and only 13 per cent in their individual business.

Insurers with banks as promoters or partners performed much better. These included HDFC Life, ICICI Prudential Life and ICICI Lombard, SBI Life Insurance, and HDFC ERGO General Insurance.

Arijit Basu, managing director and CEO, SBI Life, said 2015-16 had been a strong year for the company with 29 per cent growth in total new business premium and 37 per cent in rated individual new business premium.

SBI Life Insurance announced a net profit of Rs 861 crore in 2015-16, up from Rs 820 crore in 2014-15. The individual new business premium increased from Rs 3,757 crore in 2014-15 to Rs 4,978 crore in 2015-16. SBI Life Insurance was one of the few insurers to report growth in this segment.

HDFC ERGO posted gross direct premium,excluding declined risk pool, of Rs 3,380 crore in 2015-16, against Rs 3,180 crore a year ago. ICICI Lombard's gross written premium grew to Rs 8,307 crore from Rs 6,914 crore.