Life insurance industry has witnessed a seven per cent drop in unit linked insurance product (ULIP) sales during April to May 2008 at 44,29,109 crore compared to 47,81,463 for the same period last year. However, the private insurer posted a healthy growth of 54 per cent. Private sector insurers attributed industry's negative growth due to slow down in Life Insurance Corporation of Indian (LIC's) sales.
The state owned LIC reported 25 per cent drop in sales at 27,38,729 compared to 36,87,822 for the same period last year. On the other side the 17 private insurers as a whole registered 54 per cent growth in sales at 16,90,380 compared to 10,93,641.
Puneet Nanda, chief investment officer, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company attributed the growth for expansion programmes by the insurers. For instance, ICICI Pru which had 500 offices two years back now increased it to 2,000 and plan to open more during this year mainly in rural areas, he noted.
Meanwhile, industry as a whole collected a new business premium (NBP) of Rs 8,119.28 crore compared to Rs 7,331.7 crore for the same period last year, an increase of 10 per cent. While the private insurers registered a 73 per cent increase in NBP collection at Rs 3,948.41 crore compared to Rs 2,281.83 crore, LIC's collected NBP dropped by 17 per cent to Rs 4,170.87 crore from Rs 5,049.87 crore.
For private insurance companies individual single policy (ISP) growth was at 71 per cent to Rs 408 crore compared to Rs 239.06 crore. Individual non-single premium (INSP) registered 71 per cent growth to Rs 3,029.55 crore from Rs 1,771.5 crore. GNSP posted over 100 per cent growth to Rs 359.8 crore compared to Rs 169.83 crore. GSP rose by 48 per cent to Rs 150.5 crore compared to Rs 101.34 crore.
On the other side LIC registered a negative growth in all the categories. ISP fell by 36 per cent to Rs 2,40,544 crore from Rs 3,76,187 crore, INSP dropped by 24 per cent to Rs 24,96,540 crore and GSP dropped by 19 per cent to Rs 1,645 crore from Rs 2,047 crore.