A massive 45 per cent plunge in Life Insurance Corporation's (LIC) individual annual premium equivalent (APE) in January capped the industry growth at 8 per cent for the month, according to a report.

Industry leader LIC saw its individual APE growth plummet to 45 per cent, due to a massively high base of 99 per cent growth in January 2020.

Yet, at 8 per cent, individual APE for the life insurance industry in January is higher than the 3 per cent it had managed to grow in December and 7 per cent decline in November 2020, according to the report by Kotak Securities.

However, this pick-up in individual business indicates a gradual increase in demand for Ulips, which has been the bane of the industry for quite sometime, said the report.

Moderation in growth of protection business from peak levels seems to have been arrested, as individual non-single sum assured to individual non-single premium for private players was 25 times in January. It was 23 times in December but stood lower at 31 times in January 2020 and 35 times in the second quarter 2020-21.

Overall, the APE was up 8 per cent led by 20 per cent growth in the group business but this looks to be volatile. Group APE growth remains strong, likely due to a pick-up in the credit protect business.

Industry leader LIC saw a 45 per cent plunge in individual APE. From the private sector, HDFC Life led the growth chart with a 24 per cent rise, 4 per cent higher than 20 per cent growth over the previous two months. ICICI Prudential saw this business declining 7 per cent, despite in January 2020 also this business was down 5 per cent.

For SBI Life, it was muted with 1 per cent growth, down from 7 per cent in December 2020 and 17 per cent in January 2020.