 "Life insurance, insurance")
Healthy growth in the group segment boosted the new business premium of life insurers by 14.81 per cent year-on-year (YoY) in September 2025 to Rs 40,206.7 crore, according to data released by the Life Insurance Council.
Group business drives overall industry growth
The new business premium of life insurers stood at Rs 35,020.29 crore in August 2024. The strong rise in group premiums has been the key driver of expansion in September.
The state-owned Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) recorded a 12.7 per cent YoY growth to Rs 22,957.09 crore in the month, while private life insurers posted a 17.74 per cent YoY growth to Rs 17,249.6 crore.
The overall group segment grew by nearly 35 per cent to Rs 24,853.79 crore. LIC, the market leader in the category, saw a 34.7 per cent YoY increase to Rs 17,878.94 crore from the same period last year. The private sector also recorded about 36.64 per cent growth to Rs 6,974.86 crore.
Individual segment sees marginal decline
In contrast, the individual premium segment saw a 7.75 per cent drop during the month to Rs 15,352.89 crore. Within this segment, LIC posted a 12.18 per cent YoY decline, collecting Rs 4,515.78 crore in September 2025, while private life insurers saw a 5.76 per cent dip in growth.
Private insurers report strong premium performance
SBI Life Insurance, the largest private sector life insurer, posted a 32.14 per cent growth in premium to Rs 3,953.22 crore compared with the same period last year. HDFC Life Insurance recorded a 10.18 per cent YoY rise to Rs 2,942.3 crore, and ICICI Prudential Life Insurance grew 6.11 per cent to Rs 1,761.3 crore.
Other major players also posted healthy growth — Axis Max Life Insurance reported a 12.06 per cent increase, while Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance saw a 30.6 per cent rise in premiums.
Premium growth strong in H1FY26
During the April–September period of FY26, life insurers’ cumulative premiums grew by 7.6 per cent YoY to Rs 2.04 trillion. LIC posted a 4.72 per cent YoY increase to Rs 1.21 trillion, while private insurers registered a 12.21 per cent rise to Rs 82,660 crore.
However, the number of policies sold by life insurers fell by 14.31 per cent to 11.46 million during the same period. LIC recorded a 20.9 per cent decline to 7.27 million policies, while private insurers saw a marginal 0.18 per cent increase to 4.18 million.
Analysts attribute gains to group premium surge
“The growth in premium in September can be attributed to group premiums, more specifically with a larger share coming from group single premiums. Both LIC as well as private insurers have offset the decline in individual premiums through this,” said Saurabh Bhalerao, Associate Director, BFSI, CareEdge Ratings.
