The life insurance industry grew by 14 per cent in the first quarter of 2008-09 despite a 12 per cent decline in the premium collected by Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) from the sale of new policies.
LIC earned a first year premium income of Rs 7,524.56 crore in the first quarter as against Rs 8,580.84 crore in the corresponding period last year mainly due to a fall in the sales of individual covers.
The 18 private life insurance companies reported a 73 per cent growth in the first year premium income at Rs 6795.64 crore in the quarter ended June 30 as against Rs 3930.95 crore in the same quarter last year.
| HOW THEY STACK UP Premium income of life insurers in Rs crore | ||||
| April - June | ||||
The quarter also saw major changes in the league tables. While ICICI Prudential retained its second spot, behind LIC, SBI Life emerged as the third biggest player by displacing HDFC Standard Life. Bajaj Allianz now occupies the fourth position, followed by Reliance Life at five, Birla Sun Life at six, Max New York Life at seven and HDFC Standard Life at number eight.
Birla Sun Life Insurance reported the fastest growth of 187 per cent in the quarter, with a first year premium income of Rs 501.53 crore as against Rs 174.63 crore in the same quarter last year.
Bajaj Allianz lost out as it could not secure higher group corporate business, something that SBI Life managed to do successfully. Bajaj Allianz Life, however, fared well in the retail business, accounting for a premium of Rs 807.53 crore, while SBI Life registered retail business of Rs 603.97 crore.