Indian Life Insurers To Sustain Robust Growth, Deutsche Bank Says

India’s life insurance industry is poised for higher growth in the second half of the year to March, aided by low penetration and rising share of financial assets in household savings, Deutsche Bank said.

And private insurers are expected to lead the table, riding on tie-ups with banks to sell plans. Private insurers’ individual annualised premium rose 30 percent last months, beating the 27 percent industry average.

Private sector life insurers outperformed the Life Insurance Corporation of India, the nation’s largest life insurer. On a like-to-like basis, share of private players increased to 54 percent in November 2017 from 52.7 percent in the same month a year ago.

SBI Life Insurance Co. Ltd., which has the highest market share among private players of 23 percent as of November, registered a growth of 38 percent year-on-year, while the premium received rose 65 percent for HDFC Standard Life Insurance Co.

Reliance Life Insurance Co. Ltd. continues to be the only company to see a contraction at 17 percent last month year-on-year, the third straight months of decline.

Deutsche Bank said high growth next month should imply that savings habits of Indian households is evolving structurally towards financial savings, with insurance a key beneficiary. Bancassurance heavy companies like SBI Life, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Co. Ltd as well as HDFC Life will continue to grow faster than industry average, even as agency dependent insurers also gain, it said.

Also Read: Are India’s Private Life Insurers Too Reliant on ULIPs For Growth?