Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) continues to hold its strong position amidst the increasing number of private players in the life insurance space.
This is evident by the 21.94% growth in its premium collection during the financial year 2010-11 over that in the previous year. LIC collected Rs 86,444.72 crores during April 2010 and March 2011 as compared to Rs 70891.05 crores collected in the previous year. LIC holds its position as the largest and most dominant insurance player. LIC Pension Plus plan which was launched on 27th August 2010 also helped in boosting their figures substantially, as it was well in accordance with the new guidelines laid down by the regulator and was probably the only regular premium pension plan available in the market then.
The 22 private players on the other hand have collectively recorded a marginal growth of 2.56%. The total premium collected in FY 2010-11 by these 22 private insurers is Rs 39381.3 crores over that of Rs 38399.33 crores in the previous year.
LIC of India, which is the country’s largest insurer, has made a major contribution of 69% to the total business of life insurers while the 22 private players have collectively contributed the remaining 31%.
Last year the private insurers suffered a major slowdown in their business due to the stringent new Ulip regulations laid down by the regulator. ICICI Prudential however has outperformed all the private insurers and collected Rs 7860.99 crores, followed by SBI Life with a collection of Rs 7570.72 crores.
IndiaFirst Life which is a fairly new entrant also achieved the fastest run rate and collected premiums of Rs 704.76 crores during FY 2010-11.
