Life Insurers' new biz premium doubles at Rs 16,061 cr in Nov

Life insurers' new premium collection more than doubled at Rs 16,061.40 crore in November, marking the fastest pace of growth in a month this fiscal so far.
All the 24 life insurers in India, including the lone state-owned LIC, had earned new business premium of Rs 7,553.05 crore in the same month a year ago.
As far as the previous highest growth rate in past eight months is concerned, total new premium collection in September witnessed a jump of 61 per cent to Rs 16,767.41 crore, from Rs 10,415.35 crore in the year ago month.
Life insurance behemoth LIC, accounting for 78 per cent of the total new premium in November, registered a jump of 141 per cent in fresh business at Rs 12,528.07 crore against Rs 5,182.50 crore a year ago, showed Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irdai) data.

Rest of the business of Rs 3,533.33 crore was generated by the 23 private sector life insurance firms, witnessing a rise of 49.05 per cent from Rs 2,370.54 crore a year earlier.
Among the major private sector life insurance companies, SBI Life's new premium collection rose to Rs 730.66 crore in November, up 60.5 per cent from Rs 455.35 crore; ICICI Prudential Life Rs 740.88 crore (up 91.4 per cent); HDFC Standard Life Rs 521.23 crore (up 34 per cent) and Max Life Rs 287.25 crore (up 61.9 per cent).

Bajaj Allianz Life witnessed a rise of 30 per cent in new premium collection at Rs 220.67 crore; Kotak Mahindra Old Mutual Life Rs 182.35 crore (from Rs 127.10 crore) and Birla Sun Life Rs 130.90 crore (against Rs 94.21 crore).

Two players among the private insurers -- Shriram Life and Aegon Life -- witnessed their new business premiumm declining at Rs 48.48 crore (down 6.3 per cent) and Rs 4.80 crore (down 46 per cent) in November 2016.
All the life insurers' new premium during April-November period of the fiscal grew to Rs 1,06,404.60 crore, up 42.7 per cent from Rs 74,550.84 crore in same period of last fiscal.
For LIC, the cumulative new premium till November stood at Rs 75,263.09 crore, up 44 per cent from Rs 52,291.75 crore.
It said, keeping pace with the past few years, the

proportion of Indian organisations that facilitate parents' coverage (fully employer paid plans and cost-shared plans) has increased to 80 per cent.
Meanwhile, to keep the insurance premium cost in check, firms have started looking beyond benefit cuts, said the survey.