|
India's life insurance industry recorded a sharp rise in new business premium in July 2026 even as growth in the number of policies remained nearly flat, with higher group business emerging as the key driver of premium growth, according to data from the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI).
Life insurers collected first-year premium of Rs 47,004.84 crore during July, up 20.7 per cent from Rs 38,958.05 crore in the same month last year. However, the number of policies and schemes increased by just 0.9 per cent to 22.98 lakh in July 2026 from 22.78 lakh a year earlier, indicating that the rise in premium collections significantly outpaced the growth in policy volumes. The divergence was largely driven by group single-premium business. Industry-wide group single premium jumped 30.9 per cent to Rs 27,857.01 crore in July from Rs 21,280.53 crore a year ago. In comparison, individual non-single premium, which represents a key part of regular retail life insurance business, increased 8.6 per cent to Rs 10,914.69 crore from Rs 10,051.05 crore. Individual single premium rose 10.7 per cent to Rs 6,097.84 crore. State-owned Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) led the industry's premium growth during the month. LIC's first-year premium increased 23.8 per cent to Rs 27,993.61 crore from Rs 22,617.64 crore in July 2025, even as its number of policies and schemes declined 1.9 per cent to 14.35 lakh. LIC's growth was supported by a 31.5 per cent surge in group single premium to Rs 20,930.08 crore. Private life insurers collectively reported a 16.3 per cent rise in first-year premium to Rs 19,011.23 crore from Rs 16,340.41 crore. Unlike LIC, private insurers also registered growth in policy volumes, with the number of policies and schemes rising 5.9 per cent to 8.64 lakh from 8.16 lakh. For the first four months of the current financial year through July, the industry's first-year premium stood at Rs 1.56 lakh crore, up 17.5 per cent from Rs 1.33 lakh crore in the corresponding period last year. The cumulative number of policies and schemes rose at a slower 4.3 per cent to 74.12 lakh. (ANI)
|
