Life insurance companies reported a robust 84.2% increase in first-year premiums to ₹17,939.62 billion for April, supported by a good performance by market leader Life Insurance Corporation of India.
For LIC, the first-year premium rose 141.3% to £11,716.70 billion (£4,856.76 billion), a development that will please the giant ahead of its shares listing.
Personal life insurers saw total first year premium (FYP) grow 27.5% to ₹6,222.92 billion, according to the new business statement for the 24 insurers issued by IRDAI. Of the 22 operating private companies, six reported a fall in FYP.
Emkay Global said in a research report that a three-year compound annual growth rate would paint a true picture of the expansion, taking into account a strict nationwide lockdown in April 2020 and the impact of the COVID-19 delta wave in April last year. On a three-year CAGR basis, personal life insurers delivered 18% retail weighted received premium (RWRP) growth versus 5% for LIC.
Year-on-year growth will normalize from the second quarter of this fiscal year once the favorable base effect wears off. In addition, April was a relatively lean month for life insurers, so extrapolating the monthly figures for the full year would not be correct, the report says.
EOM
