Life insurers reported a more than 15% increase year on year in new business premium to ₹27,034.15 crore for May on the back of demand for the cover from both individual and corporate consumers.
State-owned Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) led the segment with a 19% increase in its NBP to ₹16,690.39 crore (₹14,056.29 crore). Total NBP of private players rose 9.78% to ₹10,343.75 crore (₹9,421.51 crore) even as atleast seven of the companies reported a decline in the mobilisation.
For the first two months of fiscal, life insurers posted a more than 31% increase in NBP at ₹47,293 crore (₹36,043 crore). Market leader LIC was ahead with its NBP for April and May 46.35% higher y-o-y at ₹29,074.03 crore (₹19,866.39 crore), while for private players the increase was 12.62% at ₹18,218.98 crore (₹16,176.72 crore).
On the latest business numbers, the Life Insurance Council said the May performance was “buoyed by robust demand for enhanced insurance protection from both individual and corporate consumers.”
New policy issuances too increased 12.45% on a y-o-y basis in May, resulting in the addition of 18,68,096 policies as against 16,61,324 in the year earlier period amid demand for enhanced insurance protection from individual consumers.
Life insurers added 1,30,000 individual life insurance agents even as they had to contend with an overall 0.2% drop in cumulative agent count due to attrition. The pace of agent addition is being complimented by digitisation by life insurers, paving the way for additional gains in insurance penetration that should provide a significant boost to new business premiums in FY25 and beyond, the Council said.
