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LIC again lags private insurers in NBP growth in November 2024

10 Dec 2024 , 09:54 AM

NOVEMBER 2024 NARRATIVE BELONGED TO PRIVATE INSURERS

If October saw the private insurers do better than LIC in terms of NBP growth and growth in number of policies sold; then November 2024 saw the trend getting accentuated. Once again, it was the private insurers doing much better; both in terms of new business premium (NBP) growth and in number of policies sold. In fact, LIC saw its number of policies sold falling by over 40% in November 2024, compared to the year-ago period. In the first 6 months of FY25, it was LIC that had dominated the growth in NBP and the number of policies. With the tide turning in favour of private insurers, the YTD growth in NBP of LIC and the private insurer is now almost at par. In terms of number of policies sold, private insurers are already well ahead of LIC in terms of yoy growth. Among private insurers; while the Big-3 names (SBI, HDFC and Pru ICICI) dominate the NBP growth, there are at least 4-5 other players who are emerging as serious players in private life insurance business.

PRIVATE INSURERS AGAIN DOMINATE NBP GROWTH IN NOV-24

The table below captures the performance of LIC, private insurers and the overall insurance sector for November 2024 and for the first 8 months of FY25.

PARTICULARS	NBP (Nov-2024)	NBP (Nov-2023)	Growth YOY (%) Nov-24 / Nov-23	Growth YOY (%) FY25 / FY24
Individual Single Premium	3,669.44	3,322.48	10.44%	13.70%
Individual Non Single Premium	8,153.00	7,658.32	6.46%	16.63%
Group Single Premium	10,806.88	14,735.49	-26.66%	15.22%
Group Non Single Premium	188.79	126.91	48.76%	-7.86%
Group Yearly Renewable Premium	2,488.45	651.64	281.87%	30.25%
Grand Total Premium Flows	25,306.56	26,494.83	-4.48%	15.67%
PRIVATE INSURANCE COMPANIES
Individual Single Premium	1,662.35	1,395.10	19.16%	9.85%
Individual Non Single Premium	6,138.21	5,322.61	15.32%	21.56%
Group Single Premium	3,261.61	3,085.95	5.69%	6.07%
Group Non Single Premium	126.34	4.61	2640.56%	121.01%
Group Yearly Renewable Premium	2,366.93	552.01	328.78%	30.78%
Private Insurer Premium Flows	13,555.45	10,360.29	30.84%	15.09%
LIC OF INDIA
Individual Single Premium	2,007.09	1,927.38	4.14%	16.82%
Individual Non Single Premium	2,014.78	2,335.71	-13.74%	6.52%
Group Single Premium	7,545.27	11,649.54	-35.23%	18.48%
Group Non Single Premium	62.45	122.30	-48.94%	-13.30%
Group Yearly Renewable Premium	121.52	99.63	21.97%	27.89%
LIC Premium Flows	11,751.11	16,134.55	-27.17%	16.08%

Data Source: Life Insurance Council (New Business Premiums – NBP figures are ₹ in Crore)

There are 2 quick takeaways from the NBP data for October 2024 and for FY25 till date.

The life insurance sector saw yoy contraction in first year premiums of -4.48% in November 2024. Private insurers dominated NBP growth in November 2024 at 30.8%, while LIC trailed with NBP contracting -27.2%. Even on a cumulative basis, LIC is just marginally better; growing NBP at 16.08% against just 15.09% for private insurers.
If you look at overall premium collections for November 2024 it was lower MOM at ₹25,307 Crore. What were the respective contributions of LIC and the private insurers? For instance, private insurers saw their share of NBP rise to 53.56% in November 2024; compared to 43.55% in October 2024, 41.84% in September, and 40.85% in August. LIC accounted for 46.44% in November; compared to 56.45% in October 2024, 58.16% in September 2024, and 59.15% in August 2024. The fall has been fairly sharp for LIC.

Private insurers have improved their share of NBP in November 2024; compared to previous months, largely at the cost of LIC.

LIC GROWTH IN NUMBER OF POLICIES PLUMMETS

In November 2024, the number policies sold by LIC fell over 40% yoy, even as private players saw their policy sales witness robust growth.

PARTICULARS	Policies (Nov-2024)	Policies (Nov-2023)	Growth YOY (%) Nov-24 / Nov-23	Growth YOY (%) FY25 / FY24
Individual Single Premium	92,107	82,065	12.24%	13.75%
Individual Non Single Premium	13,90,870	19,57,540	-28.95%	0.61%
Group Single Premium	197	203	-2.96%	38.74%
Group Non Single Premium	385	294	30.95%	19.10%
Group Yearly Renewable Premium	3,128	3,218	-2.80%	-1.83%
Grand Total No. of Policies	14,86,687	20,43,320	-27.24%	1.21%
PRIVATE INSURANCE COMPANIES
Individual Single Premium	27,359	17,101	59.98%	22.47%
Individual Non Single Premium	6,47,152	6,43,176	0.62%	9.66%
Group Single Premium	197	151	30.46%	46.74%
Group Non Single Premium	37	8	362.50%	130.77%
Group Yearly Renewable Premium	483	414	16.67%	5.80%
Private Insurer No. of Policies	6,75,228	6,60,850	2.18%	10.07%
LIC OF INDIA
Individual Single Premium	64,748	64,964	-0.33%	11.30%
Individual Non Single Premium	7,43,718	13,14,364	-43.42%	-3.63%
Group Single Premium	0	52	-100.00%	4.91%
Group Non Single Premium	348	286	21.68%	16.91%
Group Yearly Renewable Premium	2,645	2,804	-5.67%	-3.46%
LIC No. of Policies	8,11,459	13,82,470	-41.30%	-2.84%

Data Source: Life Insurance Council (Number of Policies are absolute figures)

Here are some quick takeaways from the data points on insurance for November 2024 in terms of number of policies sold.

The overall insurance sector saw a sharp fall in number of policies sold at -27.24% for November 2024. While the number of policies sold by LIC fell by -41.3%, the policy sales by the private players was flat to positive at 2.18%. For LIC, the sharpest fall in policies sold came from individual non-single premium policies and individual single premium policies. Cumulative growth for LIC in FY25 contracted by -2.84%.
If you look at overall policies sold for November 2024 at 14.87 Lakh policies, the contributions of LIC and private insurers have diverged. Private insurers saw their share of number of policies fall to 45.4%, while LIC saw its share for November improve to just 54.6%.

Let us now turn to how the 5 largest private life insurers saw NBP growth adding up in the month of November 2024.

NBP TRENDS: KEY PRIVATE LIFE INSURERS BUILD HEFT IN NOVEMBER 2024?

In the month of November 2024, private insurers saw 30.8% growth in new business premium (NBP). Here are the big 5 private insurers in terms of NBP in November.

ICICI PRUDENTIAL LIFE INSURANCE	Nov-24 NBP (₹ in Crore)	Nov-23 NBP (₹ in Crore)	YOY Growth (in %)
Individual Single Premium	134.00	118.65	12.94%
Individual Non Single Premium	560.91	436.59	28.48%
Group Single Premium	450.04	508.55	-11.51%
Group Non Single Premium	0.00	0.00	N.A.
Group Yearly Renewable Premium	2,076.61	227.16	814.16%
Total	3,221.56	1,290.95	149.55%