Non-life insurers' premiums rise 9% to ₹79,306 crore in Q1 FY26

General and standalone health insurers drive 8.85 per cent YoY premium growth in Q1FY26, but IRDAI's revised norms impact comparability with last year's figures

Non-life insurance companies reported an 8.85 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) increase in premiums to ₹79,306 crore in the first quarter of 2025-26 (Q1FY26), aided by decent growth in premiums mopped up by multi-line general insurers and standalone health insurers, data released by General Insurance Council showed.

 

Multi-line general insurance companies reported 8.9 per cent Y-o-Y growth in premiums to ₹69,756.8 crore during the period while standalone health insurance companies posted a 10 per cent Y-o-Y growth in premiums to ₹9,151 crore.

 

In June, the overall non-life insurance industry’s premiums grew 5.16 per cent Y-o-Y to ₹23,422.45 crore, with general insurers posting 5 per cent Y-o-Y growth in premiums to ₹19,916.08 crore, and standalone health insurers clocking 10.4 per cent Y-o-Y rise in premiums to ₹3,340.9 crore. According to analysts at Nuvama, industry growth has been hurt as the month contains a premium adjusted for 1/N (one month).

 

The numbers are not strictly comparable with the previous year’s figures since the insurance regulator – Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) – revised the accounting formats for reporting long-term premiums effective from October 1, 2024. It is assumed that all companies have deducted the long-term premiums accordingly for the current year only following Irdai formats. 

 

Among the large insurers, New India Assurance posted 15.3 per cent Y-o-Y growth in Q1FY26 to ₹12,299.5 crore while ICICI Lombard recorded a marginal 0.6 per cent Y-o-Y growth to ₹7,734.8 crore. During the same period, HDFC Ergo recorded 8.82 per cent drop in premiums to ₹3,420.65 crore; Bajaj Allianz General Insurance clocked 9.6 per cent Y-o-Y growth to ₹5,170.5 crore; and Tata AIG General Insurance posted 12.6 per cent Y-o-Y growth to ₹4,886.5 crore.

 

Among public sector general insurers, National Insurance, Oriental Insurance, and United India Insurance posted 15.08 per cent, 21.40 per cent, and 7.17 per cent Y-o-Y growth in premiums, respectively.

 

Meanwhile, standalone health insurers recorded 10 per cent Y-o-Y growth to ₹9,151.31 crore in Q1FY26, with Star Health & Allied Insurance posting 3.5 per cent Y-o-Y growth to ₹3,597.3 crore, and Niva Bupa Health Insurance clocking 11.45 per cent Y-o-Y growth to ₹1,631.9 crore.

 

Specialised insurers saw 20.55 per cent drop in premiums to ₹389.6 crore in Q1FY25.