BEST INSURERS

A young population, increasing disposable incomes, growing financial awareness and robust regulatory support are contributing to the insurance industry’s growth.

- ARNIKA THAKUR AND RASHMI PRATAP

1 LIFE INSURERS

“WE HAVE WITNESSED greater growth in demand for life insurance products from Tier-II and III cities,” says Vibha Padalkar, MD and CEO, HDFC Life Insurance, which along with Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance, has topped Fortune India’s list of best life insurers.

HDFC Life, which had a claims paid rate of 99%, and a maturity claims paid (within 30 days) rate of 97% in 2023, recorded a growth of 10% in individual weighted received premium (WRP), compared with an industry average of 8% in the first half of 2023, says Padalkar. WRP is the sum of the first-year premium on renewal policies and 10% of single premium policies. In the first half of FY24, HDFC Life had a 15.7% share of the private life insurance industry and 10.3% of the overall industry.

“We have launched innovative products and implemented multiple field-support initiatives. We are confident of strong demand in the pure protection and retirement segments, going ahead,” says Padalkar.

According to RBI’s Financial Stability Report (June 2023), total premium income of life insurers grew 12.8% to ₹7.81 lakh crore (provisional), while total premium underwritten by general and health insurers grew 16.4% to ₹2.57 lakh crore during FY23.

Meanwhile, Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance, which covers 4.56 crore people and manages an AUM of over ₹1,00,000 crore, had a claims paid rate and maturity claims paid (within 30 days) rate of 99%. The company says the number of policies grew 22% (YTD) as of October, 2023 to 3.65 lakh.