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LIC continues to see NBP contraction in January 2025

10 Feb 2025 , 09:23 AM

JANUARY 2025 – PRIVATE INSURERS SUSTAIN THE EDGE

For the fourth month in a row, LIC witnessed contraction in new business premiums; although it must be said that January 2025 was not too great for private insurers too. Overall, new business premium (NBP) contracted by -8.2%. On a cumulative basis, for the 10 months of FY25, LIC showed positive growth in NBP of 4.76%, but still lagged private insurers. What about number of policies sold? January 2025 saw LIC reporting contraction of -14.6%, while for FY25, the contraction was lower at -7.8%. In last 4 months, the tide firmly turned in favour of private insurers on both counts.

PRIVATE INSURERS AGAIN DOMINATE NBP GROWTH IN JAN-25

The table captures the performance of LIC, private insurers and overall insurance sector for January 2025 and for the first 10 months of FY25.

PARTICULARS	NBP (Jan-2025)	NBP (Jan-2024)	Growth YOY (%) Jan-25 / Jan-24	Growth YOY (%) FY25 / FY24
Individual Single Premium	4,127.67	3,550.25	16.26%	13.94%
Individual Non Single Premium	10,632.32	9,620.40	10.52%	14.03%
Group Single Premium	14,823.41	18,303.33	-19.01%	3.25%
Group Non Single Premium	99.59	1,319.10	-92.45%	-41.46%
Group Yearly Renewable Premium	1,142.17	766.68	48.98%	31.10%
Grand Total Premium Flows	30,825.17	33,559.75	-8.15%	7.78%
PRIVATE INSURANCE COMPANIES
Individual Single Premium	1,813.94	1,631.24	11.20%	8.88%
Individual Non Single Premium	7,778.34	6,489.95	19.85%	19.70%
Group Single Premium	3,944.31	5,882.54	-32.95%	-0.20%
Group Non Single Premium	20.58	7.07	191.09%	134.46%
Group Yearly Renewable Premium	975.33	628.19	55.26%	31.06%
Private Insurer Premium Flows	14,532.50	14,638.98	-0.73%	12.05%
LIC OF INDIA
Individual Single Premium	2,313.73	1,919.01	20.57%	18.18%
Individual Non Single Premium	2,853.99	3,130.45	-8.83%	1.80%
Group Single Premium	10,879.10	12,420.79	-12.41%	4.45%
Group Non Single Premium	79.01	1,312.03	-93.98%	-46.78%
Group Yearly Renewable Premium	166.84	138.49	20.47%	31.32%
LIC Premium Flows	16,292.67	18,920.77	-13.89%	4.76%

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

There are 2 quick takeaways from the NBP data for January 2025 and FY25 till date.

The life insurance sector saw yoy contraction in first year premiums of -8.2% in January 2025. Private insurers did better, but still contracting -0.7% in January 2025, while LIC trailed with NBP contracting -13.9%. Even on a cumulative basis, LIC NBP growth at 4.8% lagged the 12.1% growth shown by private insurers.
Overall premium collections for January 2025 was marginally higher MOM at ₹30,825 Crore. What were the respective contributions of LIC and the private insurers? Private insurers saw their share of NBP at 47.1% in January 2025; compared to 55.5% in December, 53.6% in November, 43.6% in October, and 41.8% in September 2024. The share of LIC rose in tandem to the fall in share of private insurers.

It is clear that while private insurers appear to be growing on NBP, the sharp fall in LIC numbers is more due to the base effect.

LIC NUMBER OF POLICIES FALLS SHARPLY ONCE AGAIN

In January 2025, the number policies sold by LIC fell -14.6% yoy, even as private players saw their policy sales grow 6.1%.

PARTICULARS	NBP (Jan-2025)	NBP (Jan-2024)	Growth YOY (%) Jan-25 / Jan-24	Growth YOY (%) FY25 / FY24
Individual Single Premium	1,10,295	1,02,206	7.91%	12.69%
Individual Non Single Premium	24,30,447	26,87,164	-9.55%	-3.43%
Group Single Premium	587	377	55.70%	32.68%
Group Non Single Premium	399	360	10.83%	18.14%
Group Yearly Renewable Premium	1,998	3,288	-39.23%	-8.48%
Grand Total No. of Policies	25,43,726	27,93,395	-8.94%	-2.72%
PRIVATE INSURANCE COMPANIES
Individual Single Premium	25,645	26,901	-4.67%	17.36%
Individual Non Single Premium	7,84,741	7,36,669	6.53%	8.10%
Group Single Premium	199	148	34.46%	36.70%
Group Non Single Premium	16	7	128.57%	144.78%
Group Yearly Renewable Premium	518	439	18.00%	5.41%
Private Insurer No. of Policies	8,11,119	7,64,164	6.14%	8.40%
LIC OF INDIA
Individual Single Premium	84,650	75,305	12.41%	11.30%
Individual Non Single Premium	16,45,706	19,50,495	-15.63%	-8.81%
Group Single Premium	388	229	69.43%	21.76%
Group Non Single Premium	383	353	8.50%	15.58%
Group Yearly Renewable Premium	1,480	2,849	-48.05%	-11.23%
LIC No. of Policies	17,32,607	20,29,231	-14.62%	-7.82%

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

Here are quick life insurance takeaways for January 2025 in terms of number of policies sold.

The overall insurance sector saw a fall in number of policies sold at -8.9% for January 2025. While the number of policies sold by LIC fell by -14.6%, the policy sales by the private players was positive at 6.1%. Cumulative policies sold by LIC in FY25 also contracted by -7.8%.
Overall policies sold for January 2025 were sharply higher at 25.44 Lakh policies. the contributions of LIC and private insurers have diverged. Private insurers saw their share of number of policies fall sharply to 31.9% from 45.2% last month. LIC saw its share for January 2025 improve to 68.1% compared to 55.8% last month.

Let us turn to how the NBP of 5 largest private life insurers grew in January 2025.

NBP TRENDS: KEY PRIVATE LIFE INSURERS BUILD HEFT IN JANUARY 2025?

In the month of January 2025, private insurers overall saw new business premium (NBP) marginally lower at -0.7%. Here are big 5 private insurers accounting for 68.4% of NBP.

SBI LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY	Jan-25 NBP (₹ in Crore)	Jan-24 NBP (₹ in Crore)	YOY Growth (in %)
Individual Single Premium	704.43	610.49	15.39%
Individual Non Single Premium	1,861.35	1,570.74	18.50%
Group Single Premium	646.62	2,956.72	-78.13%
Group Non Single Premium	2.94	1.87	57.22%
Group Yearly Renewable Premium	59.92	79.03	-24.18%
Total	3,275.26	5,218.86	-37.24%