New premium of life insurers up 27% on year at Rs 13,698 cr in Feb

LIC'S new premium collection up by 24%, remaining 23 insurers had an average 32.4% increase

Life insurance firms reported an increase of about 27 per cent in its new premium collection in February at Rs 13,698.52 crore, data from insurance regulator Irdai showed today.

Of all the 24 life insurance firms, country's only state-owned as well as the largest insurer LIC, the increase in new premium collection was up by 24 per cent to Rs 8,476.73 crore during the month.

Rest of 23 private sector players had new premium collection of Rs 5,221.79 crore in February, up 32.4 per cent from a year ago, showed the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irdai) data.

Among the private sector life insurers, SBI Life reported new premium of Rs 709.72 crore in the 11th month of this fiscal, up 32 per cent; HDFC Standard Life witnessed a jump of 80.4 per cent in new premium at Rs 1190.90 crore during the month.

Of the others, ICICI Prudential Life had new business worth Rs 780.79 crore, down 12 per cent from a year ago, Bajaj Allianz Life was at 368.49 crore as against Rs 177.51 crore year ago and Birla Sun Life Rs 182.79 crore against Rs 142.43 crore.

Cumulatively, all the 24 life insurance companies' new premium collection during April-February period of this fiscal rose to Rs 1,64,321.18 crore, from Rs 1,40,346.76 crore a year ago period.