Non-life insurers in India posted a combined premium income of INR1.7trn (24.5bn) in the financial year ended 31 March 2019 (FY2019), 13% higher than in the previous year, according to data from the IRDAI.

Among them, 25 general insurers raked in gross premium of INR1.5trn in FY2019, an increase of 13% over FY2018.

Standalone private health insurers, numbering seven, reported an increase of 37% in their combined premium to INR113.7bn in FY2019.

Two other insurers, which are state-owned specialised insurers—Agricultural Insurance Company of India and ECGC—registered a decline of 7.75% in premium to INR842.6m during FY2019.

Life market

Life insurance companies saw a 10.7% year-on-year growth in new premiums to INR2.15 trn in FY2019. The pace of growth was led by private life insurers which posted a 22.2% increase in first year premium income of INR724.8bn.

Insurance giant Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) collected new premiums of INR1.42trn in FY2019, which represented growth of 5.7%, which was slower than the industry average.

LIC enjoyed a market share of 66.24% in 2018, while the 23 private sector life insurers had a market share of 33.76%