India insurers post 13.9% premium rise as policy growth lags

Data shows that 21.27 million policies were issued, but expansion trailed the jump in income.

India’s life insurance industry reported steady growth in new business premiums for the period ending January 2026, driven largely by group and individual non-single premium segments.

Total new business premium rose 13.9% year-on-year to $38.3b (INR348,423.89 crore) for the year-to-date period up to January 2026, compared with $33.7b (INR305,912.09 crore) a year earlier.

For the month of January alone, premiums stood at $4.1b (INR37,478.35 crore), up from $3.4b (INR30,825.17 crore) in January 2025.

The number of policies issued also increased, though at a slower pace. Total policies grew 2.62% year-on-year to 21.27 million for the year-to-date period, compared with 20.73 million in the previous year.

Amongst segments, group single premium recorded the strongest growth, rising 15.25% year-on-year to $20.8b (INR188,976.50 crore).

Individual single premium grew 11.96% to $4.9b (INR44,370.46 crore), whilst individual non-single premium increased 9.38% to $10.7b (INR97,361.58 crore).

Group yearly renewable premium also expanded, up 26.82% to $1.6b (INR14,143.73 crore), although the number of policies in this segment declined 48.60% over the same period. The Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) continued to account for the largest share of the market.

LIC reported total new business premium of $21.8b (INR197,886.81 crore) for the year to January 2026, up 13.57% from $19.2b (INR174,248.62 crore) a year earlier.

Policy count for LIC rose marginally by 0.79% to 13.57 million.

Private insurers collectively posted higher growth than LIC.

Their total premium income increased 14.33% year-on-year to $16.6b (INR150,537.07 crore), compared with $14.5b (INR131,663.47 crore) in the previous year.

Policy volumes for private players rose 6.02% to 7.70 million.

Amongst private insurers, SBI Life Insurance reported total premiums of $3.8b (INR34,858.72 crore), up 18.04% year-on-year.

HDFC Life recorded $3.1b (INR27,904.06 crore) in premiums, up 8.69%, whilst ICICI Prudential Life posted $1.9b (INR17,080.33 crore), a marginal increase of 0.97%.

($1.00 = INR185.59)