New business premiums (NBP) of life insurance companies declined by 4.5% year-on-year (YoY) to Rs. 25,306.56 crore in November 2024, mirroring the decline in business of insurance giant Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC). Growth in premiums of private sector life insurance companies mitigated the decline.
According to data released by the Life Insurance Council, LIC's premiums fell 27.17% year-on-year to Rs 11,751.11 crore, while private insurers' NBP growth rose 30.84% to Rs 13,555.45 crore.
The industry is absorbing the impact of revised surrender value norms. From October 1, revised surrender value regulations came into effect, mandates life insurers to pay an enhanced special surrender value (SSV) to policyholders if the customer has paid a full year's premium after the first policy year. Earlier, companies were not required to pay such an amount to customers who surrender their policies in the first year.
According to the Nuvama report, private sector growth picked up in November 2024 as the industry adapted to changes in surrender value regulations.
LIC's individual premium segment declined 5.66% year-on-year to Rs 4,021.87 crore, while group premiums declined 35.37% to Rs 7,607.72 crore. However, group premium collection for the year increased 21.97% to Rs 121.52 crore, the data showed.
Meanwhile, the largest private life insurer SBI Life Insurance registered an 8.12% year-on-year growth in premiums to Rs. 2,575.18 crore, while HDFC Life registered a 13.06% year-on-year growth to Rs. 2,441.7 crore. ICICI Prudential Life's premiums more than doubled during the month to Rs. 3,221.56 crore. Other major private players, including Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance and Max Life Insurance, posted a 10.7% YoY decline and a 20.9% YoY growth, respectively.
During the April-November period, the NBP of the life insurance sector grew by 15.7% year-on-year to Rs 2.44 trillion. During this period, LIC registered a 16.08% year-on-year growth to Rs 1.44 trillion and private life insurance companies registered a 15.09% year-on-year growth to Rs 1 trillion.
The number of policies sold by insurers in November 2024 stood at 14.87 lakh, down nearly 27% from the previous year. During the April-October period, policy sales rose 1.21% year-on-year to 1.60 crore.
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