India’s largest life insurer,
state-owned Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), is sustaining its
market share recovery, reveals April 2010 data released by the
Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA).
According to the IRDA, LIC recorded first-year
premium income of INR41.73bn ($750m) in April, up 97.5% compared
with INR21.13bn 12 months earlier, and was the primary driver of a
59.6% increase in total industry new business to INR57.46bn
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LIC’s premium income surge gave it a 72.6%
market share, up from 58% in April 2009 and its highest since the
2003-04 fiscal year.
Assisting LIC was a broader product range than
private insurers – which are far more dependent on unit-linked
products, now the subject of a bitter regulatory dispute between
the IRDA and the Securities and the Securities and Exchange Board
of India.
This is reflected in total first-year premium
income earned by the 22 private insurers in April of IRD15.72bn, up
5.6% on the INR14.88bn recorded in April 2009.
Among private insurers, ICICI Prudential
excelled, its first-year premium income rising 124% in April 2010
to INR3.03bn and regaining it top position amongst private insurers
which it lost to SBI Life in 2009-10.
SBI Life recorded premium income of INR1.85bn,
down from INR4.6bn in April 2009.
