Life insurers' new business premium rises 12% in October on GST relief

Exemption in GST nudged individual premium growth, policy sales

Healthy growth in the individual and group business segments lifted the life insurance industry’s new business premium (NBP) by 12.06 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) in October 2025 to ₹34,006.9 crore, according to data from the Life Insurance Council.

 

The exemption from the goods and services tax (GST) nudged both individual premium growth and policy sales during the month.

 

The industry’s NBP stood at ₹30,347.6 crore in October 2024. State-owned Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) reported 12.5 per cent Y-o-Y growth to ₹19,274.01 crore, while private life insurers posted an 11.5 per cent Y-o-Y rise to ₹14,732.9 crore.

 

The individual insurance segment grew 18.3 per cent Y-o-Y to ₹12,932.5 crore, while the group segment premium rose 8.6 per cent Y-o-Y to ₹21,174.4 crore.

 

LIC, the market leader in the group insurance segment, saw a 7.8 per cent Y-o-Y increase to ₹14,470.5 crore, while private insurers grew about 10.3 per cent to ₹6,703.92 crore.

 

In the individual segment, LIC posted a 29.4 per cent Y-o-Y jump, collecting ₹4,803.5 crore in October 2025. However, private life insurers recorded a 17.3 per cent decline in growth.

 

Among private players, SBI Life Insurance, the largest in the segment, reported 20.3 per cent growth in premium to ₹3,185.01 crore. HDFC Life Insurance grew 1.06 per cent Y-o-Y to ₹2,828.81 crore, and ICICI Prudential Life Insurance rose 6.5 per cent to ₹1,773.2 crore. Other major insurers such as Axis Max Life Insurance and Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance registered growth in premium of 8.2 per cent and 15 per cent, respectively.

 

The industry also saw a sharp 62.7 per cent rise in the number of policies sold, reaching 1.95 million, led by both LIC and private insurers. LIC’s policy sales surged 120% Y-o-Y in October 2025 to 1.26 million, while private insurers recorded 10.5 per cent Y-o-Y growth to 700,000. 

 

During April–October 2025–26, total industry premium grew 8.2 per cent Y-o-Y to ₹2.4 trillion. LIC posted 5.7 per cent Y-o-Y growth to ₹1.4 trillion, while private insurers’ premium rose 12.1 per cent Y-o-Y to ₹97,392.92 crore.

 

“The GST exemption has aided premium growth for life insurers this month. Both LIC and private players have seen healthy expansion in individual and group segments,” said Saurabh Bhalerao, associate director of BFSI research, CareEdge Ratings.