GST rejig helps life insurers' new business premium surge 40% in December

Life insurers clocked nearly 40% year-on-year growth in December new business premiums, led by LIC and aided by GST rationalisation that improved affordability

The life insurance industry recorded nearly 40 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) growth in new business premiums (NBP), aided by the rationalisation of goods and services tax (GST) on individual life insurance premiums, which has made policies more affordable for consumers. This is the highest growth recorded by the industry during a month in the current financial year (FY26). This comes a month after the industry registered over 20 per cent Y-o-Y growth in NBP in November.

 

According to the Life Insurance Council data, the life insurance industry reported NBP of ₹42,150.8 crore in December, up 39.5 per cent from ₹30,218.71 crore in the year-ago period. 

 

 

State-owned Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) saw premiums surge 57.45 per cent Y-o-Y to ₹21,293.9 crore from ₹13,523.9 crore in the same period a year ago. Meanwhile, private insurers reported a 24.93 per cent Y-o-Y increase in premiums to ₹20,856.9 crore, compared with ₹16,694.85 crore a year earlier.

 

LIC’s largest segment—group single premium business—rose 75.9 per cent to ₹14,730.93 crore from ₹8,373.11 crore in the year-ago period. Premiums from individual business grew 27.4 per cent to ₹6,562.96 crore. For private life insurers, individual business grew 20.39 per cent to ₹14,387.15 crore, while group business increased 36.35 per cent to ₹6,469.74 crore.

 

In the month under review, SBI Life Insurance, the largest private insurer, reported a 19.4 per cent increase in premiums to ₹6,336.96 crore. HDFC Life Insurance’s premiums rose 14.55 per cent to ₹3,108.4 crore. ICICI Prudential Life Insurance recorded a 25.08 per cent Y-o-Y rise to ₹1,945.23 crore, while Max Life Insurance posted a 24.97 per cent growth to ₹1,567.72 crore.

 

Additionally, policy sales by the life insurance companies grew 35.44 per cent Y-o-Y in December to 2.8 million.

 

Data shows, in the nine months ended December 2025, life insurers posted 13 per cent growth in NBP to ₹3.11 trillion. LIC reported 12.34 per cent growth in premium to ₹1.77 trillion while private life insurers premiums grew 14 per cent growth to ₹1.33 trillion.

 

Meanwhile, the number of policies sold by life insurers posted 1.71 per cent Y-o-Y growth to 18.4 million compared to the contraction of 2.74 per cent recorded till April-December period of 2025.