The insurance industry is growing at a rapid pace. According to T.S. Vijayan, Chairman of the Insurance Regulatory & Development Authority of India (IRDAI), the industry is growing faster than the Indian economy. At ‘Fincon 2017’, Vijayan said that the industry has ‘opened up’ with a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 17% on premiums. This was achieved with the help of central government initiatives such as Jan-Dhan, Aadhar and Mobile (JAM), Digital India and Start-up India, that helped the industry add 12 crore customers in a single year.
He also pointed out that the growth took place despite major disruptions brought by the introduction of technology. Propelling growth in general insurance were the health and motor insurance sectors.
In April 2017 alone, the gross direct premium grew by 16%, and according to the IRDAI data, the underwritten amount was ₹12,206.42 crore. This represents a phenomenal growth of ₹1,677.7 crore when compared to the last year. The month of April saw the private sector insurers grow by 26.43% with ₹5,828.06 crore in gross direct premium and public sector insurers growing by 6.04% with ₹5,815.84 crore in gross direct premium. IRDAI data shows that among private players ICICI Lombard leads the market with a share of 9.81%.
The previous financial year was a record breaker for the insurance industry registering a growth of 32%. This was largely driven by the growth of crop insurance that racked in ₹22,000 crore worth of business. The month of April was not that great, but insurers are hoping that this year crop insurance will increase its contribution to ₹35,000 crore; thus helping the industry grow at 20%.
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