Non-life insurers are doing booming business, in stark contrast to their counterparts in the life cover sector.
The premium income of non-life insurers surged 25 per cent in 2011-12, while that of their counterparts in the life segment dropped 1.57 per cent, according the annual report of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority for 2011-12 released on Friday.
Private players did better
Industry experts say the trend is expected to continue this fiscal too. Non-life insurers notched up a premium income of Rs 52,876 crore for the year, up from Rs 42,576 crore the previous year.
In this segment, private insurers did better than their public sector counterparts.
While the private companies achieved a 28 per cent growth at Rs 22,315 crore, those in the government sector clocked 21.50 per cent at Rs 30,560 crore.
Although ICICI Lombard continued to be the largest private sector non-life cover company, it reported a marginal decrease in market share from 9.99 per cent to 9.74 per cent in 2011-12, the report points out.
Motor insurance
The biggest driver of growth in the non-life segment was the motor business, which accounted for a 45.84 per cent share during the year, up from 42.68 per cent the previous fiscal.
The health space also saw significant increases — the premium collection here surged to Rs 11,777 crore over the year, up from 9,944 crore the previous year, a growth of 18.44 per cent.