Non-life insurers' premiums increase 4.4% in November, shows data

Non-life insurers reported a tepid 4.4 per cent year-on-year (YoY) growth in premiums in November, owing to weak growth of standalone health insurers and the new premium reporting format effective from October 1, 2024.

 

According to data from the General Insurance Council, general insurers collected Rs 21,671.43 crore in premiums in November, reflecting a 4 per cent YoY increase. While the largest general insurer, New India Assurance, reported a 6.09 per cent YoY increase in premiums, the second-largest, ICICI Lombard General Insurance, posted a 2.65 per cent YoY decline in premium growth. Other state-owned insurers, United India Insurance and National Insurance, reported a 10.39 per cent and 3.80 per cent YoY decline, respectively. Meanwhile, Oriental Insurance’s premiums rose by 19.94 per cent.

 

“All in all, industry growth seems to be subdued due to the impact of the change in reporting of long-term health premiums as well as a slowdown in motor sales (passenger vehicle/commercial vehicle segments) due to an earlier onset of the festive season,” stated a report by Nuvama.

 

Among major private general insurers, Bajaj Allianz General reported an 11.95 per cent YoY growth to Rs 1,364.67 crore, while HDFC Ergo saw a decrease of 21.48 per cent YoY to Rs 936 crore.

 

Similarly, standalone health insurers (SAHIs) reported robust growth of 10 per cent YoY in premiums in November, amounting to Rs 2,731.3 crore, with Star Health and Allied Insurance reporting a 7.69 per cent YoY growth to Rs 1,226.58 crore.

 

"There is a slowdown in growth of SAHIs in the month. Also, some companies are yet to follow the new premium-reporting norms due to which the premiums are not directly comparable to previous periods. Further, there is a possibility of crop insurance being dispersed across months dampening the numbers in November,” said Saurabh Bhalerao, Associate Director, BFSI Research, CareEdge Ratings.

 

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) had revised the format for reporting premium figures. The regulator has mandated that long-term premiums be reported on the basis of 1/N, where N is the number of days of the policy. The norms came into effect on October 1, 2024.

 

For the month under review, some companies have uploaded original figures as per earlier practices, while others have adhered to the new Irdai format, making the numbers non-comparable.

 

Meanwhile, in the April–November 2024 period, non-life insurers reported an 8.9 per cent YoY growth in premiums to Rs 2.05 trillion. General insurers posted a 7.9 per cent YoY growth in premiums during this period to Rs 1.75 trillion, while SAHIs recorded a 20.76 per cent YoY growth in premiums to Rs 23,650.12 crore.