Base effect: Fuelled by LIC, life insurers clock 61% NBP in April

Life insurers posted 61 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) growth in new business premiums (NBP) in April this year on the back of robust growth registered by the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC).

According to data released by the Life Insurance Council, the NBP of life insurance companies was Rs 20,258.86 crore, 61.23 per cent higher from Rs 12,565.31 crore in the year-ago period. 

LIC's premium rose by 113 per cent to touch Rs 12,383.64 crore, while private life insurance companies reported 16.58 growth to Rs 7875.22 crore.

NBP is the premium collected by life insurance companies from new policies for a particular year. It is the sum of the first-year premium and single premium, reflecting the total premium received from the new businesses.

According to industry players, the private players witnessed lacklustre growth in April last financial year after the Union Government imposed a tax on the high-value policies (Rs 5 lakh and above premiums) due to which the base for April 2024 is muted for the private life insurers, which are the biggest players in the individual premium segment.  

Among the segments, the Group Single Premium grew over 126 per cent from last year to Rs 11,715.42 crore. The entire group premium is dominated by LIC.

The group single premium of the company increased by 200 per cent to Rs 9020.22 crore.

Among large private players, the largest private life insurer, SBI Life’s premium grew by around 26 per cent. Meanwhile, other private sector players also posted healthy growth. HDFC Life’s NBP rose marginally by 4.31 per cent, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance’s premia increased 28.13 per cent, Bajaj Allianz Life swelled 25.20 per cent, and Max Life Insurance’s premium climbed by around 41 per cent.

“It is evidently because of a growth in group single premium. LIC has also done very well which has seen a huge order in the group single premium.  Also, for the private insurers a huge amount of premiums was accrued in March 2023 dampening the growth in April 2023 amid change in taxation norms. When considering April 2024, the muted needs to be discounted,” said Saurabh Bhalerao, associate director, CareEdge Ratings.