The first-year premium underwritten by life insurance companies decreased 2.5 per cent in April 2012 compared to the year-ago period.
According to the monthly business figures released by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority on Tuesday, the total first-year premium stood at Rs 4,936 crore compared with Rs 5,063 crore collected in the same month last year.
While the premium of the Life Insurance Corporation increased over last year that of private insurers declined. LIC underwrote Rs 3,810 crore, against around Rs 3,717 last year. Private insurers collected a premium of Rs 1,125 crore, which was around 16 per cent lower than the Rs 1,345 crore garnered last year.
NON-LIFE
In the non-life segment, the gross premium underwritten in April grew by 15.73 per cent to Rs 6,506 crore (Rs 5,622 crore in the same period last year). The public sector companies outpaced the private players.
The growth in public sector and private sector was at 20.22 per cent and 10.35 per cent respectively, the IRDA said.