Focusing on mass market approach, private insurer IndiaFirst Life Insurance has registered an impressive 28 per cent growth year-on-year in group insurance, against the industry growth of 18 per cent, shows data released for the second quarter of the current fiscal.
Data obtained from the Life Insurance Council website shows that top players ICICI Prudential, Star Union Dai-chi and Bajaj Allianz have registered decline of 38 per cent, 56 per cent, and 20 per cent, respectively, in their group premium, says an insurance analyst.
IndiaFirst, a three-way partnership of Bank of Baroda, Andhra Bank and the UK's leading risk, wealth and investment company Legal & General, has collected Rs 358 crore in insurance business as on July 31 as compared to Rs 278 crore Year-To-Date (YTD) in the previous year.
Out of the entire group business portfolio, IndiaFirst achieved a YTD growth of 46 per cent Year-on-Year (YoY) in group protection category alone, with a Rs 94.7 crore business as on July 31, 2016, viz-a-viz 64.8 crore YTD in the previous year.
"Group business has helped IndiaFirst achieve critical mass and economies of scale through Pension Fund business and Mass Market protection coverage. Protection is the core business of any life insurance company and IndiaFirst prides itself in having covered over 5 million lives over the last six years," said R.M. Vishakha, MD & CEO, IndiaFirst Life Insurance.
The company has collected total premiums of over Rs 1,967 crore in the last fiscal. Individual new business grew by an annual premium equivalent (APE) of 69 per cent YoY at Rs 61 crore YTD July, making IndiaFirst the second fastest growing insurance player in the industry.
IndiaFirst is one of the insurance companies to participate actively in the Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY) promoted by the union government, with nearly 44 lakh lives insured under this scheme till July 16, since its launch in June 2015, and a premium of Rs 129 crore garnered YTD.
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With a customer base of over five million, IndiaFirst Life Insurance focuses on mass market insurance to increase its presence.
Recently, the company has tied up with Nainital Bank in Dehradun and as part of IndiaFirst's micro and mass market insurance strategy, IndiaFirst recently tied up with 'IFMR Rural Channels' to distribute life insurance policies in remote rural districts in India.
IndiaFirst Life Insurance, the 23rd entrant in the country's life insurance market, has emerged as the second fastest growing insurance company in India for an individual business, with a growth rate of 69 per cent.
The company has set for itself an Assets Under Management (AUM) target of Rs 10,000 crore and has already clocked business of Rs 9,500 crore so far.
--IANS
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