After difficult first half, remaining year may be better for life insurers

LIC's weak performance pulls down industry APE growth, while mid-sized private insurers like Axis Max and HDFC Life expand market share

August 2025 saw the life insurance industry reporting very low growth. The individual annual premium equivalent (APE) growth for private life insurers was just 1.3 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y). LIC saw a drop of 5.1 per cent Y-o-Y.

 

The number of individual policies sold in August declined 10.3 per cent, with 14 per cent fall seen in LIC and 2 per cent slump in the private sector.

 

The retail APE declined 0.6 per cent due to LIC’s poor performance. For FY26 year-to-date (YTD), private insurers’ market share for individual APE rose to 70.4 per cent, a gain of 216 basis