New business premiums of life insurance companies dropped 5.2 per cent year-on-year (YoY) in August to Rs 30,959 crore, owing to a double-digit decline reported by state-owned Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), data from the Life Insurance Council showed.
Illustration: Uttam Ghosh
LIC recorded a 17 per cent YoY fall in new business premiums to Rs 16,023 crore during the month, while private life insurers reported a 12 per cent YoY increase to Rs 14,936 crore.
Within LIC’s portfolio, group single premiums fell 26 per cent YoY, contributing to an overall 21.3 per cent decline in the group insurance segment.
In individual premiums, LIC posted a 5 per cent YoY drop in August.
Among private players, SBI Life Insurance, the largest private sector life insurer, reported 23 per cent YoY growth in premiums in August to Rs 3,321.24 crore.
HDFC Life Insurance recorded 9.54 per cent growth to Rs 3,063.85 crore, while ICICI Prudential Life Insurance posted a 17.70 per cent rise to Rs 1,776.3 crore.
Other major players also reported strong growth, with Axis Max Life Insurance rising 19.63 per cent YoY and Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance jumping 55.89 per cent YoY.
“There is a possible normalisation in growth of LIC’s group business, which had seen strong growth in August 2024.
“Further, the industry is also seeing the impact of a high base effect due to changes in regulations, which is likely to adjust by September 2025.
“However, the industry will see the impact of the recently introduced GST reforms from October 2025.
“Although the norms will cause more volatility in the short term, in the long run they are beneficial and will result in additional coverage by existing customers and more people buying fresh insurance covers due to increased affordability,” said Saurabh Bhalerao, associate director, BFSI, CareEdge Ratings.
For the April–August period of FY26, new business premiums of life insurers grew 6 per cent YoY to Rs 1.63 trillion.
LIC posted a 3 per cent YoY increase to Rs 98,051 crore, while private insurers registered 10.84 per cent growth to Rs 65,410.4 crore.
