Life Insurance Sees 12.75% Rise in Premium Income, LIC Loses Market Share

The Life insurance industry registered a premium income of Rs 5.73 lakh crore in 2019-20 as against Rs 5.08 lakh crore a year back, posting a growth of 12.75 per cent, the 2020 annual report of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) shows.

In the financial year 2019-20, Liofe Insurance Corporation (LIC) posted a 12.41 per cent growth – as against 6.06 per cent a year ago – while its private sector peers recorded 13.42 per cent growth – down from 21.37 per cent in 2018-19 – in their premium income.

The renewal premium accounted for 54.75 per cent (57.68 per cent in the previous year) of the total premium received by the life insurers in 2019-20, while new business premium contributed the remaining 45.25 per cent (42.32 per cent a year back).

The life insurance industry witnessed a 7 per cent growth in renewal premium – down from 10.76 per cent in 2018-19 – while new business premium registered a growth of 20.59 per cent in comparison to a growth of 10.74 per cent recorded in the previous year.

Life insurers issued 288.47 lakh new individual policies in 2019-20. LIC accounted for sale of 218.96 lakh policies – around 75.91 per cent of the pie – and the private life insurers constituted the rest with 69.50 lakh policies.

In the same period, the claim settlement ratio of LIC stood at 96.69 per cent as at March 31, 2020 as against 97.79 per cent till March 31, 2019. For private insurers, the claim settlement ratio increased to 97.18 per cent from 96.64 per cent in the same period.

Public sector giant LIC, which will float its maiden public issue later this year, had a market share of 66.22 per cent in 2019-20 as against 66.42 per cent in the previous year. The market share of private insurers has slightly increased from 33.58 per cent in 2018-19 to 33.78 per cent in 2019-20.

The general insurance industry underwrote a total direct premium of Rs 1.89 lakh crore in India for the year 2019-20 as against Rs 1.69 lakh crore in 2018-19. The growth rate stood at 11.49 per cent as against 12.47 per cent recorded in the year-ago period.

Public sector insurers reported a growth of 6.71 per cent in 2019-20, over the previous year’s growth rate of 1.28 per cent. The private general insurers registered a growth rate of 11.63 per cent, as against 24.25 per cent during the previous year.

The standalone health insurers registered a growth rate of 27.47 per cent as against 36.56 per cent during the previous year and the specialised insurers registered a growth rate of 28.08 per cent as against a negative growth of 10.79 per cent recorded during the previous year.

The motor business continued to be the largest general insurance segment with a share of 36.50 per cent in 2019-20 (38.08 per cent in 2018-19), followed by the health segment with 30.10 per cent market share (30 per cent in 2018-19). The motor segment reported a growth rate of 6.86 per cent in 2019-20 (8.91 per cent in 2018-19).

Premium collection in the health segment continued to surge ahead at Rs 56,865 crore in 2019-20 from Rs 50,834 crore of 2018-19, registering a growth of 11.87 per cent.