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Insurers see tepid growth
A STAFF REPORTER ,The Telegraph
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S.B. Mathur in Calcutta on Wednesday. Picture by Kishor Roy Chowdhury
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Calcutta, June 16: Life insurance companies expect their total premium income to grow marginally in 2010-11 from the 18-20 per cent level seen during the last fiscal.
According to the Life Insurance Council, total premium income grew 18 per cent to Rs 2.61 lakh crore during 2009-10.
“We expect this to grow to a marginally higher level in 2010-11,” S.B. Mathur, secretary-general of the Life Insurance Council, said here today.
New business premium increased 25 per cent to Rs 1.09 lakh crore in 2009-10 from Rs 87,006 crore in the previous year, while renewal premium grew 13 per cent to Rs 1.52 lakh crore.
Insurers have set up more than 11,927 branches in 2009-10 compared with 11,815 in the previous year.
“Life insurance companies have been adhering to rural and social sector obligation by covering more than 1.93 crore lives in 2008-09. Life companies have also sold more than 2.8 crore policies in rural areas in 2008-09 and 2009-10,” Mathur said.
Meanwhile, companies will now have more time to design products in compliance with the insurance regulator’s norm to bundle life covers with pension plans. July 1 was the original deadline.
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