Life Insurers’ First-Year Premium Rises 20% to ₹1.97 Lakh Crore in FY27 So Far, IRDAI Data
IRDAI data shows life insurers’ first-year premium rose 20% to ₹1.97 lakh crore in FY27 so far. The growth highlights continued momentum in India’s life insurance market.
IRDAI: Life insurance companies in India collected ₹1,96,823.18 crore in first year premium during the April–August period of the current fiscal year, up 20.41% from ₹1,63,461.52 crore in the same period last year, according to data released by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) for the period ended August 31, 2026. For the month of August 2026 alone, insurers collected ₹41,197.78 crore in first year premium, a 33.07% jump over ₹30,958.77 crore collected in August 2025.
First year premium, as defined in the IRDAI statement, refers to the actual premium collected by life insurers net of free-look cancellations for the period.
IRDAI: Private Insurers Grow Faster Than LIC on a Cumulative Basis
The 24 private life insurers collectively reported first year premium of ₹80,005.26 crore for the April–August period, up 22.31% from ₹65,410.42 crore a year earlier, and held a market share of 40.65% of total industry premium as of August 2026. Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) collected ₹1,16,817.93 crore over the same cumulative period, up 19.14% from ₹98,051.09 crore, with a market share of 59.35%.
The pattern reversed for the month of August in isolation: private insurers’ premium for August 2026 alone grew 19.99% year-on-year to ₹17,922.35 crore, while LIC’s August premium grew 45.26% to ₹23,275.43 crore, driven largely by a 71.90% rise in the corporation’s group single premium collections for the month.
Among individual insurers, SBI Life Insurance led the private segment with cumulative first year premium of ₹16,219.54 crore (8.24% market share), followed by HDFC Life Insurance at ₹15,570.44 crore (7.91% market share) and ICICI Prudential Life Insurance at ₹9,120.02 crore (4.63% market share), per the IRDAI data.
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IRDAI: Policy Count Grows Just 2.6% Even as Premium Surges
Industry-wide, the total number of policies or schemes sold rose 2.57% to 94,88,162 for the April–August period, compared to 92,50,126 a year earlier — a far slower pace than the 20.41% growth in premium collected over the same period. Total sum assured across the industry rose 18.58% to ₹61,43,136.22 crore, up from ₹51,80,793.48 crore.
LIC’s own policy count for the cumulative period fell 1.67% to 58,11,055 from 59,09,641 even as its premium rose 19.14%, according to the data.
IRDAI: Growth Leaders and Laggards Among Private Insurers
Among mid-sized and large private insurers, Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurance recorded the sharpest cumulative growth, with first year premium rising 96.68% to ₹5,613.08 crore from ₹2,853.84 crore, lifting its market share to 2.85% from a year earlier. Generali Central Life Insurance, formerly Future Generali India Life Insurance, reported premium growth of 99.92% to ₹662.67 crore. Bandhan Life Insurance’s premium rose 47.25% to ₹184.97 crore, and Bajaj Life Insurance, formerly Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance, grew 41.68% to ₹7,016.95 crore.
Not all insurers reported growth. CreditAccess Life Insurance’s cumulative first year premium fell 57.74% to ₹145.55 crore from ₹344.45 crore. IndiaFirst Life Insurance’s premium declined 10.85% to ₹1,207.54 crore, and Edelweiss Life Insurance’s premium fell 3.29% to ₹161.48 crore, according to the IRDAI statement.
The IRDAI statement also notes three insurer name changes effective during the period under review: Bharti Axa Life Insurance Company Limited was renamed Bharti Life Insurance Company Limited with effect from September 22, 2025; Reliance Nippon Life Insurance Company Limited was renamed IndusInd Nippon Life Insurance Company Limited with effect from December 10, 2025; and Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance Company Limited was renamed Bajaj Life Insurance Limited with effect from October 7, 2025.
