Life insurers premium income up 48% in July

The life insurance industry posted 48 per cent growth in July with the Life Insurance Corporation and 12 private insurers mopping up Rs 3,291 crore (Rs 32.91 billion) in premium income, selling about 49 lakh (4.9 million) policies during the month.

The Life Insurance Corporation alone collected Rs 2,966.02 crore (Rs 29.66 billion) in premium during April-July to retain 90.12 per cent of the market share, official sources told PTI in New Delhi on Monday.

The insurance monolith sold a total 48.97 lakh (4.9 million) policies till July this fiscal, which is 93.91 per cent of the total life insurance policies sold by all the companies.

Private companies mopped up an aggregate Rs 325 crore (Rs 3.25 billion) in the first four months, they said.

LIC and the 12 private companies collected premium of Rs 1,060 crore (Rs 10.60 billion) in July. Their premium income was Rs 2,230 crore (Rs 22.30 billion) after selling 32.17 lakh (3.2 million) policies during the first quarter of this fiscal.

Among private players, ICICI Prudential Life continues to dominate the space with a premium income of Rs 99 crore (Rs 990 million) and a market share of 3 per cent.

In the first quarter, ICICI Prudential Life had mopped up Rs 70.24 crore (Rs 702.4 million) in premium income.

ICICI Prudential was followed by HDFC Standard Life with a premium income of Rs 45.42 crore (Rs 454.2 million) and a market share of 1.38 per cent while Birla Sunlife mopped up Rs 40.26 crore (Rs 402.6 million), Tata AIG [Rs 36.25 crore (Rs 362.5 million)], Allianz Bajaj Life [Rs 25.65 crore (Rs 256.5 million)] and Max New York Life [Rs 23.27 crore (Rs 232.7 million)].

The other private companies like OM Kotak Life, SBI Life, Aviva Life, ING Vysya, Metlife and AMP Sanmar could mop up less than Rs 15 crore (Rs 150 million) till July.