LIC drags new premium biz down 3% in Dec, private life insurers fare well

The new business premium of life insurance industry contracted by 3 per cent year-on-year to Rs 24,383.42 crore in December.

The new business or the first-year premium of 24 life insurance companies was Rs 25,079.89 crore in the same month of 2019.

The country's largest life insurer LIC contributed Rs 14,345.70 crore or 58 per cent to the total premium generated during the month, showed data from the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai).

LIC's new business premium declined by 15 per cent from Rs 16,861.98 crore in December 2019.

Private sector comprising of 23 players registered a growth 22 per cent by earning new premium of Rs 10.037.72 crore in December, as compared to Rs 8217.91 crore in the year-ago period.

Among private sector life insurers, Bajaj Allianz Life's new business rose maximum by 64.18 per cent to Rs 686.80 crore in December 2020, over Rs 418.32 crore a year ago.

Aditya Birla Sun Life reported over 61 per cent increase in premium collection to Rs 514.04 crore as against Rs 318.55 crore, while India First posted a 54 per cent rise to Rs 240.10 crore.

Other insurance players like ICICI Prudential Life's new business was at Rs 1,469.45 crore (up 32.11 per cent); HDFC Life Rs 1,910.27 crore (up 27 per cent), and Max Life Rs 768.07 crore (up 21 per cent) in December.

The cumulative new business premium from all the insurers during the April-December period of 2020-21 contracted by 1.7 per cent to Rs 1,91,046.39 crore compared to Rs 1,94,331.10 crore a year earlier.