Life insurance premiums grew 26.2% to Rs 42,914.34 crore in October 2026, driven by LIC and ICICI Prudential. Despite revenue gains, the total volume of new policies issued saw a decline, highlighting a shift toward high-value group business.
Life Insurers See Significant Premium Growth
Life insurers’ new-business premium rose 26.2 per cent year-on-year to Rs 42,914.34 crore in October 2026, led by strong growth at Life Insurance Corporation of India and ICICI Prudential Life, even as the number of policies and schemes issued declined, provisional data from the Life Insurance Council showed.
LIC’s new-business premium increased 31.3 per cent to Rs 25,315.52 crore from Rs 19,274.01 crore, while ICICI Prudential Life recorded 37.5 per cent growth to Rs 2,437.44 crore from Rs 1,773.16 crore. The industry had collected Rs 34,006.95 crore in new-business premium in October 2025, according to the Council’s Summary of New Business Performance of Life Insurers.
Policy Volumes Decline Amid Revenue Gains
The number of policies and schemes issued, however, fell 3.7 per cent to 18.82 lakh from 19.54 lakh a year earlier, indicating that premium collections grew faster than policy volumes. The increase was driven mainly by group business. Group premiums rose 37.3 per cent to Rs 29,067.77 crore and accounted for nearly 68 per cent of the industry’s total new-business premium during October. Within this category, group single premiums increased 33 per cent to Rs 25,926.86 crore from Rs 19,498.66 crore.
Individual new-business premiums recorded a comparatively moderate growth of 7.9 per cent to Rs 13,846.57 crore from Rs 12,832.51 crore. LIC accounted for around 59 per cent of the industry’s October premium. However, its policy and scheme count fell 7.8 per cent to 11.61 lakh.
Private Insurer Performance
Private life insurers collectively recorded a 19.5 per cent increase in new-business premium to Rs 17,598.82 crore. Their policy and scheme count rose 3.9 per cent to 7.21 lakh. Among other major private insurers, SBI Life collected Rs 3,556 crore in new-business premium, up 11.6 per cent, while HDFC Life’s premium increased 17.8 per cent to Rs 3,333.60 crore.
During April-October 2026, the industry’s new-business premium rose 21.39 per cent to Rs 2.89 lakh crore. The cumulative number of policies and schemes increased by only 1.15 per cent to 1.36 crore, the provisional data showed.
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