Money back policy

LIC’s strong financials make it a true blue-chip, and the insurer is all set to protect its market share

- NACHIKET KELKAR

An average LIC agent issues 15 new life insurance policies a year; an agent of the nearest competitor does four. LIC chairman M.R. Kumar often makes this point to demonstrate not just his company’s market dominance but also the efficiency of its agent network.

India has 24 life insurance companies, but there is not even a semblance of competition to the top slot. In the year ended in March 2021, for instance, LIC’s market share was a staggering 74.6 per cent for individual policies and 81.1 per cent for group policies. (The latest figures are 71.8 per cent and 88.8 per cent, respectively, in the nine months till December 31, 2021.) LIC earned new business premium of ₹1.84 lakh crore in the year, while all other private players together earned just ₹941 crore.

“Nearly ₹10 out of every ₹100 saved by the Indian household every year goes to LIC, making it larger than even the perceived staple of household savings—a deposit with State Bank of India,” said Sunil Tirumalai, strategist at Swiss investment bank UBS.

Such dominance is rare in the insurance industry anywhere in the world. For instance, the top players in China, Ping An Insurance and China Life Insurance, have a market share of 21 per cent and 20 per cent, respectively. In Japan, the largest insurer, Nippon Life, has just 16.2 per cent market share.

What has led to this dominant position, of course, is the monopoly LIC enjoyed for decades until the door was opened for private players in 2000. Since then heavyweights like HDFC, ICICI and Bajaj entered the fray in partnerships with foreign insurance players. But LIC’s dominance continues, and it shows on the company’s balance sheet.