Life insurers premium growth slows in June despite private sector uptick; LIC steadies with modest gains

Life insurance June 2025 provisional data

India’s life insurance industry registered a muted performance in June 2025, with new business premiums (NBP) declining marginally compared to the same month last year.

According to the Life Insurance Council data, the total new business premium collected by life insurers stood at Rs 41,117 crore in June, down 3.10 percent year-on-year from Rs 42,434 crore a year ago. However, on a year-to-date (YTD) basis till June, the sector clocked a 4.25 percent growth in premiums to Rs 93,544 crore.

Private insurers led the momentum, with firms like Axis Max Life, ICICI Prudential, HDFC Life, Tata AIA, and SBI Life posting double-digit growth.

The private sector’s new business premium rose 5.72 percent YTD to Rs 34,134 crore, compared to Rs 32,286 crore last year. However, the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) continued to dominate with a 63.5 percent market share in June, collecting Rs 27,395 crore in premiums, up 3.43 percent year-on-year.

In terms of premium segments, group single premium continued to be the largest contributor, with Rs 26,038 crore collected in June, accounting for over 63 percent of the total.

This was, however, a decline from Rs 28,711 crore collected in the same month last year.

Group yearly renewable premium (GRP) recorded the sharpest growth of 61.17 percent year-on-year in June, rising to Rs 1,316 crore from just Rs 10.78 crore.

On the contrary, group non-single premium slumped by 53.68 percent.

Among top performers, HDFC Life reported a 14.51 percent YTD growth in premium collections to Rs 7,489 crore, driven by an increase in both individual single and group single premiums.

ICICI Prudential grew 6.47 percent to Rs 4,012 crore, with significant gains in individual single premium (up 43 percent) and group yearly renewable premiums (up 56 percent).

SBI Life, despite being the second-largest life insurer after LIC, recorded only a 3.30 percent YTD growth in premiums to Rs 7,265 crore.

Axis Max Life was among the standout performers, registering a robust 21.66 percent growth in new business premium to Rs 2,523 crore, driven by healthy gains in both individual segments and a 116.97 percent surge in group yearly renewable premiums.

Similarly, Tata AIA Life reported a 15.29 percent increase in NBP to Rs 2,085 crore, with individual non-single premium alone contributing Rs 1,721 crore.

In contrast, Aditya Birla Sun Life and Bajaj Allianz Life struggled, with the former witnessing a 29.89 percent drop in new business premiums to Rs 1,616 crore due to declines in individual single and group single premiums. Bajaj Allianz also saw a contraction of 8.81 percent in premiums.

Among new and small-scale players, Godigit Life Insurance, a relatively newer player, reported a 19.29 percent growth to Rs 299 crore, driven by a surge in group single and individual non-single premiums.

Future Generali outpaced peers with a 113.93 percent jump in premiums to Rs 188 crore, while PNB MetLife saw a healthy 4.36 percent growth despite challenges in group single premium collections.

The overall number of policies dropped by 10.11 percent YTD to 48.25 lakh from 53.68 lakh in the same period last year. LIC, which continues to rely heavily on traditional agent-led models, saw a 14.80 percent decline in policy count YTD.