Overview of Life Insurance Companies in India

Life Insurance Industry is amongst the fastest growing sectors in India. There are total of 24 Life Insurance Companies in India offering customized life insurance products. With the liberalization in the insurance sector since 2000, it has become feasible for private players to enter in the market with FDI allowed up to 26% earlier. But with the recent enactment of Insurance Laws (Amendment) Act 2015, the cap for FDI has been raised from 26% to 49% for boosting the insurance sector in India.

In the life insurance business, India is ranked 10th among the 88 countries. India’s share in the global life insurance market was 2.76% for the financial year 2017-18. The latest life insurance penetration stood at 2.76% and the level of life insurance density was USD 55. During 2017-18, the life insurance business registered a growth rate of 8% in India (inflation adjusted). Among the life insurance companies, Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) is the single public sector company in India. For the financial year 2017-18, the market share of LIC has decreased from 71.81% in 2016-17 to 69.36% market share in 2017-18, whereas the market share of private life insurers has increased from 28.19% in 2016-17 to 30.64% in 2017-18.

Life insurers issued 281.97 lakh new policies recorded in the financial year 2017-18. LIC issued 213.38 lakh policies and the private life insurers issued 68.59 lakh policies. The total capital of the life insurers as on 31st March, 2018 was Rs 27,264.37 crore. An additional capital of Rs 307.43 crore was brought in by the private life insurers. With a growth of 9.64% in their premium income, the life insurance industry recorded a premium income of Rs 458809.44 crore during 2017-18. LIC recorded 5.90% growth, while private sector insurers recorded 19.15% growth in their premium income. First year premium registered a growth of 10.75% over the previous year and recorded the premium income of Rs 65727.73 crore. During the financial year 2017-18, the life insurance industry reported a profit after tax of Rs 8511.99 crore.

Source: IRDAI Annual Report 2017-18