All stories by Aathira Varier
Mis-selling of life insurance policies at alarming level: Irdai
Rediff.com3 hours agoThe alarming level of life insurance policy misselling has caught the attention of policymakers amid efforts by the insurance regulator to boost insurance penetration, a top official from the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) said on Tuesday. According to Satyajit Tripathy, member-distribution at Irdai, while life insurance grievances often relate to product issues, non-life insurance complaints typically concern claim payments and exclusions. Addressing these grievances is essential to increasing insurance penetration, he said.
Pvt insurers ceded ground in rural areas in FY24; Tier-II,-III saw growth
Rediff.com26 Aug 2024The share of life insurance policies sold by top private insurers in the rural areas declined in the financial year 2023-24 (FY24) compared to previous year. SBI Life, HDFC Life, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance -- the top three players from the private sector-- have seen the share of insurance policies sold in rural areas drop in FY24 as compared to the previous financial year. Max Life Insurance's share of rural policies recorded an increase in FY24.
Banks report muted treasury book gains
Rediff.com7 Aug 2024Banks reported muted treasury gains during April-June of FY25 (Q1FY25) following Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) revised norms on investment portfolio effective from April 1, 2024, despite softening of government bond yields. "Banks have reported muted treasury gains during Q1 of FY25 despite softening of yields across the curve. "The main reason was change in the investment valuation and classification guidelines by the RBI.
Net credit card additions down 48% to 2 mn in Q1
Rediff.com25 Jul 2024The net credit card additions in the banking sector nearly halved to 2 million in the first quarter of the current financial year (Q1FY25) from the previous quarter due to seasonal and regulatory factors. According to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data, the net credit card additions during the April-June quarter of FY25 stood at 2 million, 48 per cent lower than 3.9 million in the December-March quarter of FY24.
How Aditya Birla Health Insurance plans to achieve full year profitability by FY26
Rediff.com12 Jul 2024'We want to play the value game for our consumers, which is health and retail will grow faster for us than the group.'
Pvt life insurers hike term policy premium
Rediff.com11 Jul 2024Major private sector life insurance companies, including HDFC Life, ICICI Prudential, Bajaj Allianz and Max Life Insurance, have increased their term insurance premiums by 4-7 per cent in response to moderation in bond yields, inflation concerns, and adjustments in reinsurance rates, according to industry sources privy to the development. Many other insurers are expected to follow suit, the sources said. "We have seen upward revisions happening (in term life insurance rates) across major life insurance companies.
New biz premium rises 23% in Q1
Rediff.com9 Jul 2024Insurance companies reported nearly 23 per cent growth in first year premium in the first quarter of financial year 2024-25, when compared to the same period last year, with market leader LIC leading the charge with 28 per cent growth. According to the data released by the Life Insurance Council, the new business premium (NBP) increased by 22.91 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) to ~89,726.7 crore in Q1FY25 from ~73,004.87 crore in Q1 FY24, reflecting a robust demand for insurance policies in the country.
Deposits grew slower than loans
Rediff.com9 Jul 2024Most lenders that have reported their April-June business update posted slower growth in deposits sequentially as compared to the loan growth in the April-June quarter of 2024-25 (FY25). Current and savings account (CASA) deposits continue to face pressure. Private-sector lenders YES Bank, Bandhan Bank, and RBL Bank saw their deposit growth contract by 0.5 per cent, 1.5 per cent, and 2 per cent, respectively.
Don't sell Ulips as investment products: Irdai to insurance companies
Rediff.com24 Jun 2024The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has asked life insurance companies not to advertise unit-linked plans as investment products in a recent circular.
Claims Can't Be Rejected For Missing Docs
Rediff.com13 Jun 2024In its master circular on general insurance products, which takes immediate effect, Irdai specified, 'The customer may be required to submit only those documents directly related to claim settlement.'
Listed private life insurers' FY24 margins fell on rise in Ulip share
Rediff.com11 Jun 2024All the four listed private life insurance companies recorded a drop in value of new business (VNB) margin in the financial year 2023-24 (FY24) as compared to FY23. This is because of a higher share of unit-linked insurance plans (Ulips) in the product mix. VNB is a measure of the economic value of profits expected to emerge from a new business.
Max Life plans to hire 30K agents, open up to 100 offices in FY25
Rediff.com30 May 2024Max Life Insurance plans to hire 30,000 agents and open 50 to 100 new offices in the financial year 2024-25 (FY25) to drive premium growth, said Prashant Tripathy, managing director and chief executive officer of the company. The private insurer's total agent count will rise to 1,30,000 in FY25. It added 47,957 agents in FY24, 54 per cent more than the year before.
Cashless Health Claims To Be Approved In 1 Hour
Rediff.com30 May 2024Health insurance policy-holders will be able to avail a discount on the premium payable if there were no claims made in the previous year, according to the circular released by the regulator.
'Aim is to double individual first-year premiums in 3 yrs'
Rediff.com27 Apr 2024'Currently, our individual first premium would be in the Rs 3,000-Rs 3,200 crore range. We want to take that to about Rs 6,000 crore in three years.'
'We will grow at about 20% over the next few years'
Rediff.com27 Apr 2024'Private General insurers are poised to grow at 17 per cent - 18 per cent over the next 5 to 7 years and we will grow faster.'
Pricing key challenge for health insurance of older citizens: Experts
Rediff.com23 Apr 2024The insurance regulator's move to prod insurance companies to sell health products to all age groups, including those above 65, is aimed at increasing penetration though there would be challenges on pricing due to higher risk perception, experts said. While there was no regulatory cap on age for health insurance policies, most companies had an internal policy which did not allow them to sell health insurance products to persons over 65.
Base effect to hit life insurers' March biz
Rediff.com21 Mar 2024New business premium (NBP) growth of life insurers in March is expected to be weak owing to the high base effect in the year-ago period due to revision in taxation norms for high-value policies, insurers said. In the Budget, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed that insurance policies (excluding unit-linked insurance plans or Ulips) with an aggregate premium exceeding Rs 5 lakh would be taxed. This rule came into effect on April 1, 2023. In March 2023, the NBP of life insurance companies witnessed a strong growth after the tax announcement. Premiums rose by 14.45 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) to Rs 59,608.83 crore in March 2023 from Rs 52,081.12 crore.
Medical inflation, high coverage drive up ticket sizes for retail health insurers
Rediff.com13 Mar 2024The average ticket size of retail health insurance in India has increased by nearly 48 per cent over 6 years due to elevated medical inflation and increased demand for higher coverage policies among policyholders. According to data by online insurance broker PolicyBazaar, the average ticket size of retail health insurance in India has increased to Rs 26,533 so far in FY24, up 48.22 per cent from Rs 17,900 in FY19.
Unclaimed insurance funds higher in agent-sold policies: Analysts
Rediff.com4 Mar 2024The unclaimed funds within the life insurance sector are higher from policies sold by agents as against other channels like bancassurance or a digital platform, said analysts and officials from insurance companies. Unclaimed life insurance funds refer to the proceeds of insurance policies including death or survival benefits not claimed by the beneficiary or the policyholder. Bancassurance means selling an insurance product through banks.
Credit-deposit ratio inched up in Q3
Rediff.com29 Feb 2024Credit-to-deposit (CD) ratio of major public sector and private sector banks during the October-December quarter of FY24 inched up as compared to the previous quarter though government-owned lenders reported a lower rate than their private peers. CD ratio is the ratio of the funds that banks lend as compared to the funds raised in the form of deposits. The CD ratio of top public sector banks (PSBs) - State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda and Canara Bank - was lower than their private counterparts.