Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), the country's largest life insurer, has set its highest premium for April 2024, surpassing prior April rates since 2014. The entire premium collection for the life insurance business (private and LIC) increased by 61% from April 2023. This high growth was mostly driven by LIC's 113% increase in premium collection in April 2024. In April 2024, LIC collected a total of Rs 12,383.64 crore in premiums, compared to Rs 5,810.10 crore in April 2023.
The company ascribed this exceptional performance to LIC's use of creative marketing methods, as well as its excellent reputation for dependability and customer-centric services. "These factors effectively reached a wider audience, resulting in increased policy uptake and premium collections, contributing significantly to LIC's success in posting its highest premium in 12 years," the business stated in a statement.
In the Individual Premium category, LIC collected a total premium of Rs 3,175.47 crore in April 2024, up 25.17% from Rs 2,537.02 crore in April 2023. On a positive note, the Group Premium increased by 182.16% to Rs 9,141.34 crore in April 2024, from Rs 3,239.72 crore in April 2023. However, this gain was aided by a substantial increase of 100.33% in the Group Yearly Premium category, which increased to Rs 66.83 crore in April 2024 from Rs 33.36 crore in April 2023. In April 2024, LIC issued 8.56 lakh policies and schemes, up 9.12% from 7.85 lakh in April 2023.
Under the Individual category, the total number of plans and policies will increase by 9.11% to 8.55 lakh in April 2024 from 7.84 lakh in April 2023. The Group Yearly Renewable Policies and Schemes grew by 21.34% to 1120 in April 2024, up from 923 in April 2023. However, the Group's number of programs and policies increased by 15.53% to 305 in April 2024 from 264 in April 2023.
In comparison, private players had slower growth in April of last year when the Union Government placed a levy on high-value insurance (Rs 5 lakh and above premiums). As a result, the base for April 2024 has been muted for private life insurers.
Among the segments, Group Single Premium increased by more than 126% year on year to Rs 11,715.42 crore. LIC dominates the total group premium. The company's group single premium climbed by 200 percent to Rs 9020.22 crore, according to a Business Standard report.
SBI Life was the largest private life insurer among the major companies, and its premium increased by nearly 26% over the period. HDFC Life's NBP increased little by 4.31%, while other private sector firms experienced healthy growth. ICICI Prudential Life Insurance's premiums rose by 28.13%, Bajaj Allianz Life's by 25.20%, and Max Life Insurance's by around 41%.
