Page 2 - Life Insurers

LIC to keep offices open on March 30, 31 to facilitate tax saving

Life Insurance Corporation will keep its offices open on March 30 and March 31 to facilitate taxpayers to complete tax saving exercise before the closing of the fiscal year. LIC's measure follows the announcement by banks that their branches will remain open on Saturday and Sunday. The RBI had earlier this month directed banks to keep their designated branches open for government transactions up to the normal working hours on March 30 and March 31, 2024. In a statement, the public sector insurer said as per the advisory by the insurance regulator IRDAI, LIC has decided to extend this special measure to the policyholders. "It has been decided that the Offices under the jurisdiction of zones and divisions will be kept open for normal operations as per official working hours on 30.3.2024 and 31.3.2024, in order to avoid any hardship to the policyholders," LIC said in a statement.

Will end FY24 with growth rate of over 30%: CEO Shriram Life Insurance

In life insurance, it is about creating distribution capacity and solutions for customers. We are constantly working on that Casparus JH Kromhout, managing director and chief executive officer said

High base effect of last year to hit March growth business of life insurers

Several private insurers also reported to have moved towards Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities and in the less than Rs 5 lakh segment to compensate for their loss of business in the higher ticket size

Irdai launches regulations for insurance electronic marketplace Bima Sugam

The company will be operative and accessible at all times and will not store or hold any data, with the board of the company also having a policy on a revenue model which is self-sustainable

Payout by life insurers moderates in FY23 compared to previous year

Payout by life insurance companies declined by about Rs 6,000 crore during 2022-23 because of lesser number of death claims as compared to previous financial year which was impacted by COVID-19. The life insurance industry paid a total benefit of Rs 4.96 lakh crore in 2022-23 as compared to Rs 5.02 lakh crore in FY22, according to the latest annual report released by sector regulator IRDAI. During FY22, the year hit by COVID-19 wave, the insurance companies paid Rs 60,821.86 crore as death claims. This came down by Rs 19,000 crore to Rs 41,457 crore in 2022-23. The benefits paid on account of surrenders/withdrawals increased by 25.62 per cent to 1.98 lakh crore in 2022-23, of which public sector insurers accounted for 56.27 per cent. During the year, out of the total surrender benefits, it said, benefits for ULIP (unit-linked insurance plans) accounted for 62.51 per cent for private insurers and 1.56 per cent for state-owned life insurers. In case of individual life insurance ...

After 4 yrs of decline, insurers ramp up presence in smaller cities in FY23

According to the latest data released by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI), during 2022-23, the presence of life insurers rose by nearly 3.5 per cent year-on-year

Women's life insurance share rises to 34.2% in 2022-23: IRDAI report

As per the IRDAI's annual report 2023, of the total policies sold, the number of policies issued to women was around 9.73 million, which is 34.20 per cent of the total

Higher surrender value to badly hit life insurers margins: Report

The recent regulatory push to increase the surrender value of a life policy through the revised concept of threshold limit and adjusted guaranteed surrender value for all non-linked policies, if implemented, will hit the margins of the insurers, warns a report. The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irdai) earlier this month put out a draft circular proposing an increase in the surrender value of a life policy by revising upwards threshold limits and the adjusted guaranteed surrender value for all non-linked policies, both par and non-par. Surrender value is the amount that an insurer pays to a policyholder in case he or she terminates the policy before maturity. The move if implemented as the current format will affect the overall margins of life insurance companies, India Ratings said in a note on Thursday without quantifying by how much given the complex calculations being proposed. But the agency also believes that defining the thresholds for surrender value will b

All about property transfer, insurance ULIPs: Top personal finance stories

This week we explain the difference between a will and gift deed; next we analyse index funds of life insurers

Life insurance companies clock a 25.28% drop in premiums, shows data

Among the private insurance companies, SBI Life Insurance, the largest private insurer, reported a 9.84 per cent decline in premiums to Rs 2,381.73 crore

Index funds by life insurers vs mutual funds: What's a better deal

To invest in a small-cap index fund of a life insurance company, a customer will need to invest in a ULIP

HDFC Life Q2 net profit up 15.5% to Rs 376.77 crore; VNB margins moderate

For the April-Sep period, net profit increased 15 per cent year-on-year to Rs 792 crore on the back of a healthy back book surplus

Life insurers posts 4% decline in new biz premium to Rs 23,477 cr in May

The new business premium income of India's life insurance companies declined by 4.1 per cent to Rs 23,477.8 crore in May 2023, data from the Life Insurance Council showed. All 24 life insurers had a collective new business premium income of Rs 24,480.36 crore in the same month a year ago (May 2022). LIC -- the only state-owned and the largest life insurer in the country -- recorded an 11.26 per cent decline in its new business premium at Rs 14,056.29 crore during the month against Rs 15,840.63 crore a year ago, as per data released by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India. The rest 23 players in the private sector, however, witnessed their combined new business premium rise by 9.05 per cent to Rs 9,421.51 crore from Rs 8,639.72 crore in May 2022. On a cumulative basis, all 24 players registered a 15 per cent fall in new business premium income during April-May period of 2023-24 at Rs 36,043.11 crore compared to Rs 42,419.97 crore in the same period of 2022-23,

Go Digit Life Insurance receives IRDAI's approval to start business

"This is the fourth registration granted by IRDAI in last one year in Life and Non-life segment," it added

LIC's knock-on effect: New business premium of insurers drops 12%

New biz premiums of private insurers jumps 35% in March, aided by pick-up in sales of high-value policies

Irdai grants life insurance registration to Acko & Credit Access Grameen

With the entry of these two firms into the space, the number of life insurance companies in the sector goes up to 25, after remaining stagnant since 2011

Irdai advises firms about minimum rate rule for reinsurance treaties

Regulator's instruction is about burning or break-even cost calculated to estimate the expected losses for a policy

Investors react positively to LIC's good showing in second quarter

LIC posted a record rise in the Q2 profit after tax (PAT) to Rs 15,950 crore, up 10x year-on-year (YoY) compared to Rs 1,433.71 crore a year ago

Life insurers register 15% rise in new biz premium at Rs 24,916 cr in Oct

The new business premium income of India's life insurance companies rose by 15.3 per cent to Rs 24,916.58 crore in October 2022, data from the Life Insurance Council showed. All the 24 life insurers had a collective new business premium income of Rs 21,606.25 crore in the same month a year ago (October 2021). LIC -- the only state-owned and the largest life insurer in the country -- recorded 18 per cent rise in its new business premium at Rs 15,920.13 crore during the month, as against Rs 13,500.78 crore a year ago. The rest 23 players in the private sector witnessed their combined new business premium increasing by 11 per cent to Rs 8,996.45 crore, as against Rs 8,105.46 crore in October 2021. On a cumulative basis, all the 24 players registered 35 per cent increase in new business premium income during April-October period of 2022-23 at Rs 2,06,893.51 crore as against Rs 1,53,588.14 crore in the same period of 2021-22, as per the data.

Building trust: LIC plans bonus shares to shore up faltering stock

Insurer also eyeing higher dividend to regain investor confidence