Life insurers first year premium (FYP) rose 2.89% to ₹27,820.74 crore for August on the back of another good show by the private players.
Market leader and State-owned Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) saw a 3.82% decline in FYP to ₹18,960.77 crore, according to the new business statement of life insurers released by IRDAI. On a sequential basis, it fared better. In July, the FYP stood at ₹12,030.93 crore.
For the 5-month period up to August, the FYP of all the lifer insurers stood at ₹1,00,980.72 crore, or 1.63% higher y-o-y. For LIC, it declined 6.75% to ₹66,592.38 crore.
A research report of Emkay Global Financial Services said a less-than-desired sales of high-ticket annuity products and low focus on ULIPs seemed to be hurting LIC’s growth. Overall, the trend of market share consolidation towards the bigger private players continued.
The 23 private players, who between them command a little more than 35% market share, in August mobilised a FYP of ₹8,859.97 crore, an increase of 20.95%. Up to August this fiscal, they had reported an increase of 23.05% to ₹34,388.34 crore.
The August performance is continuation of a pattern set by life insurers since April of neither a growth nor decline consecutively for two months. In April, their FYP rose (by 44.76%) while in May it declined (5.55%). It rose in June (by 3.95%). In July, it was 11% lower.
