Gross premium underwritten by non-life insurers saw a 5 percent increase to Rs 1.98 lakh crore in FY 21 over the previous year as more people signed up for health insurance following the Coronavirus pandemic, shows the data released by the insurance regulator IRDAI.
Non-life insurers include standalone health insurers, general insurance companies and and specialised PSU insurers.
In March FY21, general insurers saw a 23 percent growth with gross direct premium underwritten swelling to Rs 19,298.85 crore from Rs15,635.42 crore in the year-ago period.
Health insurance as a category has seen a significant uptick with increasing awareness and sales for Corona specific policies such as Corona Kavach and Corona Rakshshak.
Besides, there has been a general shift towards opting for health insurance given the high cost of medical bills if one contracts the virus.
Standalone health insurers like Star Health & Allied Insurance saw a 33 percent growth with gross premiums underwritten surging to Rs 1337.1 crore and Aditya Birla Health insurance saw a growth of 68 percent to Rs 177.15 crore.
Manipal Cigna Health grew 31 percent to Rs 101.17 crore, Care Health Insurance Limited saw 42 percent growth to Rs 315.88 crore and Max Bupa health insurance witnessed 37 percent growth to Rs 253.75 crore.
Among the large private sector insurers, ICICI Lombard recorded a 5 percent growth in premiums in FY21 to Rs 14,003 crore. HDFC Ergo saw its premium collection rise 27 per cent to Rs 12295.1 crore. Bajaj Allianz General saw its premiums de-grow by 2 percent to Rs12,569 crore.
The state owned general insurers New India Assurance’s saw a 6 percent surge in growth to Rs 28,481 crore in FY21 while United India Insurance, Oriental Insurance, and National Insurance Company saw their premiums de-grow by 5 percent, 9 percent, and 7 percent, respectively.
