Insurers’ premium records moderate uptick in January

HYDERABAD:  Despite private insurers seeing upward momentum, Indian life insurers’ premium growth saw a moderate uptick in January as against a strong growth during the previous month.

However, January’s subdued growth was in line with the trend seen in the past, according to brokerage Emkay Global Financial Services. Private insurers’ business grew 13.3 per cent in January over December led by a strong performance by players including Tata AIA Life, Bajaj Allianz Life, Kotak Life and SBI Life.

And while Life Insurance Corporation’s annualised premium equivalent (APE) grew strongly by 87.4 per cent, driven by the sale of traditional products, private players APE grew at a slower pace of 10.1 per cent.

“We expect better growth in the consecutive months. We believe, private insurance players are unlikely to see any significant shift in premium growth due to the recent announcements made in the Union Budget 2002 (tax savings ale dropping off under the new tax regime), given a diversified product suite and evolving distribution ecosystem” said Neeraj Toshniwal of Emkay Global.

Among the players, HDFC Life reported over 12 per cent growth in its APE on last year’s low base, though the number of policies sold fell nearly 13 per cent over the last year. Its peer ICICI Prudential Life reported a modest 5.4 per cent growth in premium during January over the last year, but its APE contracted by 3.6 per cent.

The number of policies sold too fell sharply at 16.5 per cent, though the retail APE ticket size shot up nearly 14 per cent. Another private player Max Life saw robust APE growth of nearly 17 per cent though the number of policies sold fell 2.3 per cent. “The ticket size went up 17.6 per cent yoy, reflecting a pick-up in ULIP sales and continued traction in non-par savings segment. It has launched ROP and limited pay protection...” Toshniwal said.