Private life insurers back in black in weighted received premiums, says Motilal Oswal report

The private life insurance companies are back in black as far as the weighted received premiums are concerned. A report by Motilal Oswal Institutional Equities showed that after reporting six consecutive months of decline, private players’ individual weighted received premium (WRP) rebounded at 3.6 percent year-on-year (YoY) in September.

Here, weighted received premium (WRP) which is a measure of premium received on individual products. It is the sum of the first-year premium on renewal policies and 10 percent of single premium policies.

Life Insurance Corporation of India posted a 4.8 percent YoY growth in the WRP in September 2020. Overall, the life insurance industry (LIC and private players) posted growth of 4.1 percent YoY.

"The overall industry, which has reported decline since the COVID-19 outbreak, has thus reverted to the positive trajectory for the first time since January 2020," said the Motilal Oswal report.

Among the listed players, HDFC Life Insurance reported robust growth of 43 percent YoY, followed by Max Life (16 percent YoY growth), while SBI Life posted 4 percent YoY decline.

On the other hand, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance saw a 24 percent YoY decline in WRP in September.

The report said that mid-sized players reported healthy trends. Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurance posted 36 percent YoY growth in WRP while Tata AIA saw a 25 percent growth in September.

As per the report, the combined market share of listed players – SBI Life, ICICI Prudential Life, HDFC Life, and Max Life – on an individual WRP basis stood at ~61 percent as of September 2020.

It added that Tata AIA Life, Bajaj Allianz Life, and Aditya Birla Sun Life are getting firmly positioned among the 5–7th largest private insurers on individual WRP basis.