Life Insurance companies' new business premium rises 22% in August

Non-life insurers report muted growth in premiums in August

New business premiums (NBP) of life insurance companies grew 21.8 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) to Rs 32,644.09 crore in August, aided by robust growth by the state-owned Life Insurance Corporation (LIC).

LIC’s new business premium growth was up 35.1 per cent to Rs 19,309 crore.

Private sector life insurance companies' new business premium grew 6.7 per cent to Rs 13,335 crore, supported by growth in the individual non-single premiums.

LIC’s NBP was driven mostly by group single premiums. The state-owned insurance is the market leader in the segment, with nearly 80 per cent market share. LIC’s group premiums have grown by 46 per cent to Rs 13,599 crore in August.

SBI Life Insurance, the largest private sector life insurer posted 13.46 per cent drop in premium to Rs 2,703.92 crore over last year whereas, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance recorded 12.3 per cent growth in premium to Rs 1,509.12 crore.

Other major players, including HDFC Life, Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance and Max Life Insurance posted 3.6 per cent, 2.8 per cent and 16.7 per cent growth respectively.

In April-August period of FY25, NBP of life insurance companies was Rs 1.54 trillion, up 20.8 per cent over the same period a year ago.

As of August, LIC’s market share stood at 61.7 per cent as compared to 58.4 per cent a year ago. The share of private insurance companies accounted for 38.2 per cent of the NBP as compared to 41.6 per cent last year.

Muted growth for non-life insurers

The non-life insurance companies’ gross direct premium saw a muted 4.22 per cent Y-o-Y growth in August 2024 to Rs 24,554.33 crore on account of weak premium growth among general insurers.

The largest general insurer New India Assurance posted a 12.51 per cent Y-o-Y decline in premiums. Other major general insurers including ICICI Lombard and Bajaj Allianz General Insurance also recorded subdued growth at 10.10 per cent and 3.5 per cent respectively. Meanwhile, HDFC Ergo has recorded a 22.7 per cent drop in premiums to Rs 1745.22 crore.

The standalone health insurance companies (SAHIs) reported 24.54 per cent growth in premiums to Rs 3,229.12 crore. Star Health, the largest player in this space, clocked nearly 15 per cent growth to Rs 1,400 crore.

In the April-August period of FY25, the premiums collected by general insurers stood at Rs 1.08 trillion, nearly 9 per cent higher than last year. Whereas, the SAHIs clocked 24.47 per cent growth to Rs 14,829.98 crore.