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Private life insurer Reliance Life Insurance has posted a 100% rise in new business premium for the quarter ended June 30, 2013. Reliance Life collected new premiums of Rs 514 crore during Q1 FY14, compared to Rs 251 crore in the corresponding quarter in last fiscal.
The company registered 48% growth in new business (individual) premium and collected premiums of Rs 267 crore in Q1FY14, as against Rs 181 crore in Q1FY13. The total premium of the life insurer grew by 12% to Rs 914 crore in the first quarter, as against Rs 815 crore in the same period last year.
"Reliance Life Insurance has topped the list amongst non-bank promoted private life insurers in total new business premium during the first quarter. We are now amongst the top five private life insurers in the country, and hope to further improve our market share in coming quarters," said Anup Rau, CEO, Reliance Life Insurance.
According to the company release, its average ticket size increased by over 40% in Q1FY14, and touched Rs 20,000 by quarter end.
The life insurance industry ended the financial year 2012-13 with a de-growth of 6.3% in new business premiums. According to data from Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irda), life insurers collected new premiums of Rs 1,07,010.68 crore for the year ended March 31, 2013, as compared to Rs 1,14,232.72 crore collected in same period previous fiscal.
Life insurers had seen a drop in new business premiums, owing to slowdown in economy resulting in lower disposable income. With this, the number of policies purchased also came down. However, with change in regulatory guidelines and expectations of higher economic growth, insurers believe that they would be able to achieve better numbers in new business premiums this fiscal.
There has been a marginal growth in new premiums, for April. Life insurers collected total premiums of Rs 4,965.37 crore for April, seeing a 0.57% rise over same period last year, with private life insurers seeing a 18.5% rise in overall new premium collection.
