Life Insurers Report 20% Rise in Annualized Premium Equivalent in H1 '17

Life insurance industry reported 20% growth in overall annualized premium equivalent in the first half of the financial year with the help of both private players and Life Insurance Corp, while Reliance Life continued to show decline due to shift in business to traditional business.

Insurers like Bajaj Life, ExideBSE 0.03 % Life, India First Life and Tata AIA reported a spike in numbers due to increase in the share of unit linked insurance plans.

Bajaj Life reported 83% growth in individual APE following a good show in the past three months. The company has restructured its agency channel, focused more on ULIPs, which has driven this improvement on a low base for the company, said Kotak in a report. Its ticket size is up 51% year on year to about Rs 36,000.

India First reported 79% growth in the first half in individual APE driven by both volumes and ticket size, the report said Its average ticket size in individual non-single segment up 38%.

Reliance Life continued to go slow where individual APE was down 33% in April-September due to the shift to traditional policies from unit linked business. The company expects to resume year-on- year growth in the second half when the base effect plays out, the report said.

Star Union Daichi reported 46% growth in individual APE, largely on the back of volumes, the report said. Birla Sun Life saw 15% growth in the first half of the financial year.

Private sector gained market share in group business while single business remains strong for LIC. LIC continued to have 83% share of single premium of total premium.

“Increase in ticket size seems to suggest that growth is driven by shifting focus on ULIPs, which typically have higher ticket sizes,” said Kotak in its report. “Inflows to equity mutual funds remain high as well second half of the financial year saw the highest inflows in the past three quarters. It appears that household savings are making strong headway into capital markets through mutual funds and life insurance companies.”