Life insurance companies have appointed around 13 lakh agents during 2008-09 despite the sector going through a rough phase following the impact of the global financial crisis.
The number of life insurance agents increased to 29.37 lakh by the end of March 2009, according to Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) annual report 2008-09.
In 2007-08, life insurance companies added 10 lakh insurance agents.
More than one-fourth of the insurance agents were recruited by the country’s largest insurer Life Insurance Corporation in the last fiscal. It recruited 3.45 lakh agents in 2008-09 compared with 2.34 lakh in 2007-08.
On the other hand, private insurers added 9.43 lakh agents in the last fiscal against 7.72 lakh a year ago.
Among the private insurers, the biggest recruiter was ICICI Prudential. The insurance company hired 1.88 lakh agents in the last fiscal.
Reliance Life was the second largest player in agents’ appointment in the last fiscal. It hired 93,051 advisers in 2008—09.
