The nationwide lockdown due to the coronavirus outbreak that began on March 25 continued to have an impact on the new premium collections of life insurers with first-year collections down 25.4 percent year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 13,739.01 crore in May 2020.
Here, private insurers as well as Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) saw a decrease in premium collection. LIC saw a 24.3 percent YoY drop in premium to Rs 10,211.53 crore in May 2020 while private insurers saw a 28.3 percent decrease to Rs 3,527.48 crore.
Due to the lockdown, bank and insurance branches have been operating with minimal staff. Customers have also avoided visiting branches as a safety precaution on one hand, while home visits by agents have also hit a pause due to societies not allowing non-residents amidst COVID-19 fears.
The only life insurers to see growth in new premiums in May 2020 were Aviva Life, Canara HSBC OBC Life and Tata AIA Life.
For FY21, data from Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) showed that the premium collection for the April-May period dropped 28 percent YoY to Rs 20,466.76 crore.
LIC saw a 26.5 percent YoY decrease in new premiums to Rs 13,793.18 crore in the April 1-May 31 period. Private insurers saw a 30.7 percent dip in premiums to Rs 6,673.58 crore.
Also read: Life insurers' collections down nearly 33% in April
Among the private insurers, HDFC Life posted a 50.2 percent YoY decrease in new premium for the April 1-May 31 period at Rs 1,306.50 crore. ICICI Prudential Life Insurance saw a 29.6 percent drop in new premiums to Rs 934.92 crore while SBI Life saw a 15.5 percent decrease to Rs 1,555.91 crore.
A handful of private insurers that saw a growth in new premium in this period (April-May) were Aditya Birla Sun Life, Aviva Life, Canara HSBC OBC Life, Edelweiss Tokio Life and Tata AIA Life.
Since March 2020, life insurers have been seeing a steady dip in new premium collection. The industry saw a 32.2 percent YoY decrease in new premium collection to Rs 25,409.30 crore in March.
In April 2020 as well, first-year premium collections saw a 32.6 percent YoY drop to Rs 6,727.74 crore.
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