Private life insurance players outpaced LIC's premium growth in August, as per the monthly data provided by Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI). Individual annualised premium equivalent for the life insurance industry grew at 14 percent year-on-year in the month of August. For private insurers, individual APE growth was 21 percent YoY.
Premium growth was largely driven by growth in number of policies, pointed out brokerages. SBI Life, HDFC Life, Bajaj Allianz, and Max Life reported strong individual APE growth, at 34 percent, 16 percent, 33.5 percent, and 48.5 percent, respectively.
Meanwhile, LIC's individual APE growth was only 3 percent YoY.
Market share
Max Life and SBI Life took charge in market share improvement for the month of August. Max Life gained 142 basis points YoY to 6.2 percent market share in the individual APE segment, while SBI Life gained 259 basis points to 17.6 percent.
HDFC Life gained 15 basis points to 11.5 percent while ICICI Prudential Life lost 11 basis points YoY to 6.1 percent market share.
Meanwhile, LIC lost 355 basis points of market share. Yet, it has the lion's share of the individual APE market at 32.1 percent.
"For FY24TD, SBI Life has posted the strongest market share gain of 121 basis points to 16 percent. Among listed insurers, IPRU has lost share. While we are optimistic on the long-term growth prospects of life insurance, we continue to remain watchful of sales growth given the high base set in FY23," said Nuvama Institutional Equities in a report.
General insurance
For August, general insurance premium growth slowed to 12 percent YoY from 18 percent in July, said foreign broking firm Jefferies. Private players' growth slowed from 26 percent to 16 percent YoY, versus 5 percent for PSUs.
Growth of ICICI Lombard General Insurance moderated a bit to 16 percent (22 percent in July). Within leading unlisted general insurers, Bajaj grew fastest at 64 percent followed by Tata at 26 percent YoY.
"Among mid-size, Chola grew 37 percent YoY and Star Health grew by 19 percent," said Jefferies.
At 11 am, SBI Life stock was quoting at Rs 1,338.25, down 0.7 percent from previous close. HDFC Life was quoting flat at Rs 656.25 on the NSE. LIC was slightly above the flatline at Rs 676.70. Meanwhile, Star Health stock was up 2 percent from previous close at Rs 669.90.
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