Life insurance companies in India reported a more than 39% increase in new business premium for December to ₹42,150.77 crore compared to the ₹30,218.71 crore a year earlier.
For the nine months of the fiscal ended December, the new business premium rose 13% to ₹3,10,945.53 crore (₹2,75,086.92 crore), the latest numbers released by the Life Insurance Council showed.
Analysts attributed the robust growth in December to the GST rate rationalisation, effective September 22, as part of which the levy on individual life insurance policies was brought down from 18% to 0% making the life covers affordable. “The continued strong growth momentum in December 25 was driven by GST-rate exemption tailwinds – driving strong growth in term protection and normalisation of the base, impacted by the new surrender regulations,” Emkay Research said.
New business premium of market leader, the State-owned Life Insurance Corporation for December surged more than 57% to ₹21,293.88 crore (₹13,523.87 crore), while for the third quarter, ended the same month, it rose 12% to ₹1,77,445.79 crore (₹1,57,955.95 crore).
Private life insurers, numbering 26, posted a nearly 25% increase in the new business premium for December at ₹20,856.89 crore (₹16,694.85 crore). For the nine months ended December, they reported an almost 14% increase to ₹1,33,499.74crore (₹1,17,130.96 crore).
The number of policies/schemes sold by all the life insurers in December was 35% more at 28,77,755 (21,24,729). LIC sold 17,71,274 (11,63,314) policies and private players 110,6,481 (96,1415). For the period upto third quarter of the fiscal, the number of policies/schemes by life insurers was 1.71% higher at 18495058 (18184185) with LIC accounting for 1,16,76,017 (1,17,35,012) and private players 68,19,041 (64,49,173).
Published – January 12, 2026 07:57 pm IST
