Life insurers in India posted 21% year-on-year (YoY) increase in new business premium (NBP) for September at ₹48,780.55 crore.

The higher mobilisation came even as number of policies/scheme sold declined YoY at 21.93 lakh (22.06 lakh). In August too, the policies and schemes sold were lower yet their NBP rose 33% YoY to ₹41,197.78 crore.

In September, market leader, the State-owned Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) reported nearly 20% increase in the NBP to ₹27,528.71 crore (₹22,957.09 crore).

The 26 private players registered a more than 23% increase at ₹21,251.84 crore (₹17,249.58 crore), latest numbers released by the Life Insurance Council showed.

H1 NBP up 20.59%

For the six months ended September, NBP of all life insurers totalled ₹2,45,603.73 crore, 20.59% higher compared to ₹2,03,668.19 crore in the corresponding period of previous fiscal.

LIC’s NBP in the first half of the fiscal went up 19.29% to ₹1,44,346.64 crore (₹1,21,008.19 crore). Private players, on the back of robust performance of some of the insurers, posted 22.50% increase in NBP to ₹1,01,257.09 crore (₹82,660 crore).

In the non-life insurance segment, the gross direct premium underwritten for September rose a modest 6.12% to ₹32,951.16 crore (₹31,052.06 crore) as specialised insurer Agriculture Insurance Co of India reported 51.56% decline in the premium to ₹1,995.43 crore (₹4,119.16 crore).

The gross direct premium underwritten, excluding the two specialised insurers, for the month was 15% higher at ₹30,820.11 crore (₹26,798.14 crore) on the back of the standalone health insurers, numbering eight, logging 27.10% increase at ₹4,382 crore (₹3,447.56 crore).

The gross direct premium underwritten by general insurers totalled ₹26,438.11 crore, a YoY increase of 13.22% compared to ₹23350.58 crore, numbers released by the General Insurance Council showed.

For the first half of the fiscal, gross direct premium underwritten of the general insurers, excluding the specialised insurers, was 11.74% higher at ₹1,76,105.17 crore (₹1,57,609.67 crore). With the inclusion of specialised insurers’ numbers, the premium rose 8.92% to ₹1,79,712.7 crore (₹1,64,987.82 crore.)

The gross direct premium underwritten by standalone health insurers, for the first six months, was 30.69% higher at ₹25,586.29 crore (₹19,578.01 crore). General insurers mobilised ₹15,518.88 crore, an increase of 9.05% YoY compared to ₹13,8031.66 crore.

Discussion on insurance in September were dominated by major changes mooted by the insurance regulator IRDAI to norms governing insurance distribution, commissions and expenses. Emkay Research said while the proposed distribution reforms would materially alter distribution economics they are likely to benefit insurers over the medium-to-long term.

Published – October 08, 2026 09:47 pm IST