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LIC puts up a good show in Jan-26 on NBP and policy count

10 Feb 2026 , 06:36 PM

LIC BEATS PRIVATE INSURERS AGAIN IN JANUARY 2026

For the fifth month in a row, LIC saw aggressive expansion in new business premium (NBP) as well as policies sold. January 2026 NBP of LIC expanded 25.5%, which was supported by a 9.6% growth in policies sold. For LIC, the positive NBP thrust came from Group non-Single Premium Policies and Group Yearly Renewable policies. However, the good news is that LIC showed growth across all five categories. Here is the January 2026 insurance story.

JANUARY 2026 LIFE NBP GROWS 21.6%, FY26 GROWS 13.9%

The table captures new business premium (NBP) growth of life insurers for January 2026.

PARTICULARS	NBP (Jan-26)	NBP (Jan-25)	Growth YOY (%) Jan-26 / Jan-25	Growth YOY (%) FY26 / FY25
Individual Single Premium	5,043.56	4,127.67	22.19%	11.96%
Individual Non Single Premium	11,580.39	10,632.32	8.92%	9.38%
Group Single Premium	19,316.99	14,823.41	30.31%	15.25%
Group Non Single Premium	209.67	99.59	110.53%	66.14%
Group Yearly Renewable Premium	1,327.74	1,142.17	16.25%	26.82%
Grand Total Premium Flows	37,478.35	30,825.17	21.58%	13.90%
PRIVATE INSURANCE COMPANIES
Individual Single Premium	2,095.30	1,813.94	15.51%	9.68%
Individual Non Single Premium	8,327.97	7,778.34	7.07%	12.42%
Group Single Premium	5,517.04	3,944.31	39.87%	19.55%
Group Non Single Premium	20.40	20.58	-0.87%	-27.00%
Group Yearly Renewable Premium	1,076.63	975.33	10.39%	14.20%
Private Insurer Premium Flows	17,037.34	14,532.50	17.24%	14.33%
LIC OF INDIA
Individual Single Premium	2,948.26	2,313.73	27.42%	13.71%
Individual Non Single Premium	3,252.42	2,853.99	13.96%	1.69%
Group Single Premium	13,799.95	10,879.10	26.85%	13.82%
Group Non Single Premium	189.27	79.01	139.55%	78.55%
Group Yearly Renewable Premium	251.11	166.84	50.51%	86.27%
LIC Premium Flows	20,441.02	16,292.67	25.46%	13.57%

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

There are 2 quick takeaways from the recent NBP data.

For January 2026, growth contribution came largely from LIC, followed by private insurers. In the case of LIC, Group non-Single Premiums and Group Yearly Renewable Premium policies led the way. In the case of private insurers, the growth was almost balanced across individual policies and group policies.
There was a sharp fall in premium collections in January 2026 at ₹37,478 Crore compared to ₹42,151 Crore in December 2025. NBP was sharply higher yoy at 21.6%. Private insurers saw their share of NBP fall in January 2026 to 45.6%; compared to 49.5% in December 2025. The NBP share of LIC has gone up correspondingly.

On an absolute basis, the new business premiums are meaningfully higher than the year-ago period; although it has lagged sequentially.

ANOTHER GOOD MONTH FOR LIC ON POLICY COUNT IN JAN-26

In terms of number of policies sold, LIC sustained the turnaround in January 2026 with policies growing 9.6% yoy; as private insurers were tad lower at 8.3%.

PARTICULARS	Policies (Jan-26)	Policies (Jan-25)	Growth YOY (%) Jan-26 / Jan-25	Growth YOY (%) FY26 / FY25
Individual Single Premium	1,30,255	1,10,295	18.10%	5.45%
Individual Non Single Premium	26,44,079	24,30,447	8.79%	2.54%
Group Single Premium	255	587	-56.56%	0.48%
Group Non Single Premium	443	399	11.03%	7.24%
Group Yearly Renewable Premium	1,429	1,998	-28.48%	-48.60%
Grand Total No. of Policies	27,76,461	25,43,726	9.15%	2.62%
PRIVATE INSURANCE COMPANIES
Individual Single Premium	36,787	25,645	43.45%	24.28%
Individual Non Single Premium	8,40,835	7,84,741	7.15%	5.37%
Group Single Premium	189	199	-5.03%	-5.37%
Group Non Single Premium	12	16	-25.00%	7.32%
Group Yearly Renewable Premium	512	518	-1.16%	4.10%
Private Insurer No. of Policies	8,78,335	8,11,119	8.29%	6.02%
LIC OF INDIA
Individual Single Premium	93,468	84,650	10.42%	-0.47%
Individual Non Single Premium	18,03,244	16,45,706	9.57%	0.98%
Group Single Premium	66	388	-82.99%	18.32%
Group Non Single Premium	431	383	12.53%	7.23%
Group Yearly Renewable Premium	917	1,480	-38.04%	-61.01%
LIC No. of Policies	18,98,126	17,32,607	9.55%	0.79%

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

Here are quick life insurance takeaways for January 2026 in terms of number of policies sold.

The overall insurance sector saw 9.2% spike in number of policies sold, led by LIC policy growth at 9.6% in January 2026. In comparison, growth in number of policies sold by private insurers was marginally lower at 8.3%.
Overall policies sold for January 2026 were lower MOM at 27.76 Lakhs compared to 28.78 Lakhs in December 2025. Private insurers saw their share of number of policies fall to 31.6% in the month of January 2026. LIC saw its share of policies spike to 68.4%.

Let us turn to how NBP of 5 largest private life insurers grew in January 2026.

NBP TRENDS: TOP 5 PRIVATE INSURERS BY NBP – JANUARY 2026

In January 2026, 7 private insurers saw new business premium (NBP) collections of over ₹1,000 Crore, with overall NBP rising 17.2% y-o-y. The top 5 private insurers account for 63.8% of overall private sector insurance NBP.

SBI LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY	Jan-26 NBP (₹ in Crore)	Jan-25 NBP (₹ in Crore)	YOY Growth (in %)
Individual Single Premium	833.06	704.43	18.26%
Individual Non Single Premium	1,926.18	1,861.35	3.48%
Group Single Premium	736.41	646.62	13.89%
Group Non Single Premium	2.46	2.94	-16.33%
Group Yearly Renewable Premium	35.65	59.92	-40.50%
Total	3,533.76	3,275.26	7.89%