December updates indicate good health of life insurers, stocks rally

The 11-22 per cent increase in premium income, new offerings and push towards protection products are important drivers

Business updates of listed life insurance companies for December once again point to healthy growth prospects, a key reason for the rally in their stocks. Barring HDFC Life Insurance, the share price of other three life insurers, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, SBI Life Insurance and Max Financial Services (holding company of Max Life Insurance) is up 13-24 per cent in the last three months versus about 10 per cent rise in the BSE Sensex.

HDFC Life may have underperformed peers with 6 per cent rise in its stock price during the said period (possibly due to sharper gains in earlier part