India’s Life Insurers Post 17.5% Premium Growth in First Four Months 2026 of FY27, IRDAI Data Shows
India’s life insurers collected Rs 1,55,625.40 crore in first-year premium during April–July FY27, up 17.45% YoY. Private insurers outpaced LIC with 22.99% growth, per IRDAI’s New Business Statement.
India’s life insurance sector recorded strong premium growth in the first four months of FY27. The rise highlights increasing demand for life cover and long-term financial protection.
NEW DELHI — Life Insurers: India’s life insurance industry collected Rs 1,55,625.40 crore in first-year premium (FYP) during the April–July 2026 period of the current financial year, up 17.45% from Rs 1,32,502.74 crore in the same period last year, according to the New Business Statement compiled by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) as at 31st July 2026.
For the month of July 2026 alone, insurers wrote Rs 47,004.84 crore in first-year premium, a 20.66% jump over the Rs 38,958.05 crore collected in July 2025.
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Life Insurers: Private insurers grow faster than LIC, but LIC still holds majority market share
The 24 private life insurers together collected Rs 62,082.91 crore in first-year premium between April and July 2026, a growth of 22.99% over the Rs 50,474.42 crore logged in the same period last year. This gave the private sector a combined market share of 39.89%.
State-owned Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) collected Rs 93,542.49 crore over the same four months, up 14.04% year-on-year from Rs 82,028.32 crore, and retained a market share of 60.11%. For July 2026 alone, LIC’s premium rose 23.77% to Rs 27,993.61 crore from Rs 22,617.64 crore.
Life Insurers: Individual and group business both expand
Within the industry-wide numbers, individual single premium business rose 9.85% to Rs 17,998.82 crore, while individual non-single (regular/limited pay) premium grew 14.02% to Rs 35,838.04 crore for the April–July period.
Group single premium business, the largest segment by value, grew 18.39% to Rs 92,964.03 crore. Group non-single premium declined 2.21% to Rs 695.38 crore, while group yearly renewable premium rose sharply by 49.07% to Rs 8,129.13 crore.
Life Insurers: Policy count and sum assured
The number of policies and schemes sold industry-wide between April and July 2026 rose 4.34% to 74.12 lakh, from 71.04 lakh a year earlier. For July 2026 alone, 22.98 lakh policies were sold, up 0.89% year-on-year.
Total sum assured underwritten by the industry during the four-month period stood at Rs 50,25,646.76 crore, up 24.59% from Rs 40,33,791.67 crore in the year-ago period.
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Life Insurers: Top private insurers by premium collected
Among private insurers, SBI Life Insurance led the pack with Rs 12,804.16 crore in first-year premium for the April–July period, up 15.69% year-on-year, giving it an 8.23% market share — the highest among private players.
HDFC Life Insurance followed with Rs 11,960.95 crore, up 13.44%, holding a 7.69% market share. ICICI Prudential Life Insurance collected Rs 7,167.20 crore, up 21.10%, with a 4.61% share.
Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance — renamed Bajaj Life Insurance Limited with effect from 7 October 2025, per a note in the IRDAI statement — recorded premium of Rs 5,062.96 crore, up 46.00% year-on-year, among the fastest growth rates in the top tier of insurers.
Axis Max Life Insurance collected Rs 4,216.85 crore (up 17.99%), Tata AIA Life Insurance collected Rs 3,741.31 crore (up 23.94%), and Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurance collected Rs 4,300.06 crore, up 86.80% — the sharpest growth among the larger private insurers.
Kotak Mahindra Life Insurance grew 39.77% to Rs 2,867.08 crore, while Star Union Dai-ichi Life Insurance grew 23.61% to Rs 2,029.95 crore for the four-month period, despite a 47.51% decline in its July 2026 monthly premium alone.
Life Insurers: Smaller and newer entrants show sharp swings
Among smaller and newer players, Generali Central Life Insurance’s first-year premium rose 126.90% to Rs 563.43 crore, and Acko Life Insurance’s premium rose 135.87% to Rs 75.05 crore for the April–July period, though both remain small in absolute terms.
Bandhan Life Insurance grew 47.05% to Rs 140.40 crore, and Go Digit Life Insurance grew 26.98% to Rs 581.21 crore.
On the other end, CreditAccess Life Insurance’s first-year premium fell 68.96% to Rs 99.88 crore from Rs 321.79 crore a year earlier, the steepest decline among private insurers for the period.
Life Insurers: About the data
The figures are drawn from IRDAI’s New Business Statement of Life Insurers for the period ended 31st July 2026, which covers first-year premium net of free-look cancellations, along with policy counts, group scheme coverage, and sum assured, across all 25 individual and composite life insurers operating in India together with industry-wide totals.
