The life insurance industry saw individual single premiums growing by 5.94 per cent on a year-on-year (Y-o-Y) basis to close at Rs 3,823 crore for June 2024. The year-to-date (YTD) growth of the life insurance industry stood at 14.87 per cent.
According to a report by the Life Insurance Council new business premiums (NBPs) underwritten by Indian life insurers have achieved a robust Y-o-Y growth of 14.80 per cent in the month of June this year. The YTD figures recorded a 22.91 per cent growth over the same period last year.
New business premiums expanded from Rs 36,961 crore in June 2023 to Rs 42,433 crore in June 2024, with YTD collections increasing from Rs 73,004 crore to Rs 89,726 crore this quarter.
Riding on the back of strong demand for enhanced insurance protection from individual consumers, new policy issuances also increased by 12.13 per cent on a Y-o-Y basis in the last month. This resulted in the addition of new 21,79,282 policies vis-à-vis 19,43,529 policies in the year-ago period.
What has propelled the premium collections for life insurers?
As per the report, the industry presently is focused on encouraging first-time life insurance buyers to buy essential life insurance solutions.
This has contributed to the 15 per cent growth in combined individual premium collections for June 2024 and 18 per cent rise on a YTD basis.
Premium growth: Segment-wise
Individual non-single premiums came in at Rs 8,310 crore and increased by 19.61 per cent in June 2024, the YTD collections settled at 20 per cent which was higher than the corresponding period last year.
Group policy segment: Single premiums increased by 13.49 per cent with monthly collections coming in at Rs 28,711 crore. The Group policy category saw a 15 per cent growth in premiums collected on June 24 while new policy issuances expanded by 7 per cent on a Y-o-Y basis.
Here’s how the major life insurers performed:
Among the major life insurers, ICICI Prudential Life and HDFC Life reported a strong performance in both premium and Annualised Premium Equivalent (APE).
ICICI Prudential Life: The company's June premium swelled by 14 per cent, supported by a base growth of 23.51 per cent.
Total APE increased by 13 per cent, while retail APE jumped by 28 per cent.
For the first quarter of the financial year (FY) 25, its premium grew by 24 per cent.
HDFC Life: June premium swelled by 8 per cent, building on a strong base of 33 per cent.
The company’s total APE grew by 27 per cent, and retail APE increased by 34 per cent.
Max Life Insurance: Witnessing moderate growth over a strong base, the company saw a 6 per cent decline in June premiums. Its premiums in the first quarter of this year grew by 12 per cent.
Total APE increased by 18 per cent and retail APE grew by 22 per cent.
SBI Life Insurance: The company witnessed a 22 per cent surge in June premiums, despite showing a weak base of -13 per cent. In the first quarter, its premiums increased by 13 per cent.
Total APE and retail APE swelled by 17 per cent and 18 per cent, respectively.
LIC of India: The company saw a 14 per cent rise in June premiums despite a weak base of -21 per cent. Its premiums in the first quarter of this year rose by 28 per cent.
Total APE increased by 21 per cent, and retail APE grew by 13 per cent.
As per the Life Insurance Council’s report, the life insurance industry is witnessing significant growth wherein insurers added more than 2,19,820 individual life insurance agents, with an overall 1.20 per cent growth in cumulative agent count. Various factors backing this growth include rapid digitisation by life insurers which is paving the way for additional gains in insurance penetration. This will provide a significant boost to new business premiums in FY25 and beyond, the report states.
