Life insurers’ new business premium rises 20.7% to ₹47,005 crore in July | Insurance News

Life insurers reported a 20.7 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) increase in new business premium (NBP) to ₹47,004.84 crore in July, marking an acceleration from 13 per cent growth in June, driven by robust premium mobilisation by both state-owned Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) and private insurers.

According to data released by the Life Insurance Council, LIC’s NBP rose 23.77 per cent to ₹27,993.6 crore during the month, while private insurers recorded a 16.34 per cent increase to ₹19,011.23 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 strong July performance also lifted the industry’s cumulative growth for the first four months of FY27. During April-July, NBP rose 17.45 per cent Y-o-Y to ₹1.56 trillion, compared with growth of around 16.6 per cent during the April-June period.

Private insurers continued to outperform on a cumulative basis, with NBP rising 23 per cent to ₹62,082.8 crore during April-July, while LIC reported a 14.04 per cent increase to ₹93,542.49 crore.

LIC’s July performance was driven by group business. Group premium rose 29.96 per cent Y-o-Y to ₹21,536.67 crore, while individual premium increased 6.81 per cent to ₹6,456.93 crore.

Private insurers reported a 10.9 per cent increase in individual business premium to ₹10,555.6 crore, while group business grew 23.84 per cent to ₹8,455.6 crore.

At the industry level, individual business premium increased 9.35 per cent Y-o-Y to ₹17,012.53 crore during the month, while group business expanded 28.17 per cent to ₹29,992.3 crore, reflecting robust growth in group insurance business.

Among the larger private insurers, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance posted the strongest growth at 20.7 per cent, with NBP rising to ₹2,300.92 crore, followed by Bajaj Life Insurance at 20.3 per cent to ₹1,386.17 crore. HDFC Life Insurance reported a 15.53 per cent increase to ₹3,528.41 crore, while Axis Max Life Insurance’s premium grew 15.46 per cent to ₹1,252.47 crore. SBI Life Insurance reported a relatively modest 2.53 per cent increase in NBP to ₹3,898.7 crore.

Life insurers issued 7.41 million policies during April-July FY27, up 4.37 per cent from a year earlier. LIC sold 4.54 million policies, up 0.76 per cent, while private insurers recorded a stronger 10.55 per cent increase in policy sales to 2.87 million.