The life insurance industry’s growth in the current fiscal is likely to stay flat amid sharp traction seen in the protection business and the ₹5 lakh income tax exemption will have a short-term negative impact, a top official said.
In the private sector, additional premium income saw a contraction of 4% in the first half of the fiscal while some companies attained healthy growth.
Companies that could offer complete digital onboarding and servicing immediately grew, he said. “The industry is likely to remain flattish,” said Kotak Mahindra Life Insurance MD & CEO G. Murlidhar.
The company was keeping its fingers crossed despite the last quarter (January-March) is typically best for insurance firms for their tax planning. However, companies remain unsure about this year’s behaviour after the government had allowed complete tax exemption for up to ₹5 lakh income.
Murlidhar said this will not be an impediment for growth in the long run and he expects GDP of the country to stay at 7-8% growth in the next five years.
With ₹3,700 crore net worth the Kotak Mahindra owned company was not looking at an IPO to raise capital and said it was well capitalised to meet capital for the next few years.
The asset under management is close to ₹40,000 crore.
