Life insurers’ new business premium rises 33.07% to ₹41,198 cr in August | Insurance News
Life insurers posted one of their fastest new business premium (NBP) growth rates for the financial year in August, with a 33.07 per cent year-on-year (YoY) increase to Rs 41,197.78 crore, improving from 20 per cent growth in July, driven by robust premium mobilisation by both state-owned Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) and private insurers. The monthly premium of insurers had grown by 39 per cent in April 2026.
According to data released by the Life Insurance Council, LIC’s NBP rose 45.26 per cent to Rs 23,275.43 crore during the month, while private insurers recorded a nearly 20 per cent increase to Rs 17,922.25 crore.
Among the larger private insurers, Bajaj Life Insurance posted the strongest growth at nearly 31.6 per cent, with NBP rising to Rs 1,953.99 crore, followed by HDFC Life Insurance at 17.8 per cent to Rs 3,609.5 crore.
ICICI Prudential Life Insurance reported a 10 per cent increase to Rs 1,952.8 crore, while Axis Max Life Insurance’s premium grew 8.11 per cent to Rs 1,236.5 crore. SBI Life Insurance reported a relatively modest 2.83 per cent increase in NBP to Rs 3,415.4 crore.
NBP is the premium received by an insurance company for policies sold and issued for the first time during a specific reporting period.
The continuously improving performance has also nudged the industry’s cumulative growth for the April-August period of FY27. During the period, NBP rose 20.4 per cent YoY to Rs 1.96 trillion, compared to Rs 1.6 trillion in the year-ago period.
The growth of private insurers continued to outperform during the period, with NBP rising 22.3 per cent to Rs 80,005.3 crore during April-August, while LIC reported a 19.14 per cent increase to Rs 1.16 trillion.
Life insurers issued 9.5 million policies during April-August FY27, up 2.57 per cent from a year earlier. LIC sold 5.81 million policies, down 1.67 per cent, while private insurers recorded a stronger 10.88 per cent increase in policy sales to 3.68 million.
