ICICI Pru posts 143% growth in H1

ICICI Prudential Life Insurance has posted a growth of 143 per cent during the half year April-September 2006, earning new business weighted premium of Rs 1,626 crore, as against Rs 668 crore during the corresponding period of the previous year.

The company has underwritten 658,437 policies during the period and the sum assured stands at Rs 64,113 crore. ICICI Prudential continues to retain its position as the leading private life insurer with a retail market share of 9.2 per cent of the total and 30 per cent of the private market. Assets held stand at Rs 11,423 crore as on September 30, 2006.

NS Kannan, executive director, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance said, "We have seen excellent progress over the past six months on both the product and distribution fronts, which has catapulted our base to over 3 million policies, the largest amongst private life insurers. We have also almost doubled the distribution during the year, with a total of around 400 branches across the country."

Since the beginning of the financial year, ICICI Prudential launched four unique plans; one is a unique premium guarantee market-linked plan which ensures that an investor will only get the benefits of the upsides of the market, without incurring any loss if the markets go down; second is an immediate annuity product that offers a guaranteed income for life, for retired people above 45 years of age.

The third insurance product was exclusively designed for cancer patients. In October 2006, ICICI Prudential launched its most recent product "� Diabetes Care - the world's first critical illness insurance for diabetics.