Life insurance companies reported an 18% year-on-year growth in new business premiums (NBP) in February at ₹35,417.27 crore, led by strong growth in premium collections by Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC). The 27-member life insurance industry had reported ₹29,986 crore of premiums in the same month last year.

Life insurers’ new business premium had grown by 22% in January following their best-ever monthly performance in December, when NBP growth surged nearly 40% to ₹42,151 crore. The industry has been registering high double-digit growth since the government exempted individual life insurance policies such as term life from the goods and services tax (GST) in September 2025.

What does LIC data suggest?

Data released by the Life Insurance Council showed that the total first-year premium of LIC rose 25% year-on-year to ₹19,267 crore in February compared to ₹15,514 crore in the year-ago period. Private life insurers, as a group, recorded a 12% rise in premiums to ₹16,150.25 crore in February.

Among major private players, SBI Life Insurance, the largest private insurer by premium, posted a 29% year-on-year increase in February premiums to ₹2,797 crore.

HDFC Life Insurance records 3% decline in premiums

HDFC Life Insurance, however, saw a 3% decline in premiums to ₹3,129.75 crore, while ICICI Prudential Life Insurance reported a 16% increase to ₹2,148.30 crore. Axis Max Life reported a 30% rise in new business premiums to ₹1,338.64 crore.

Life insurers sold a total of 2.38 million policies in February compared to 1.94 million policies in the same month last year. LIC sold 1.53 million policies against 1.2 million policies in February 2025. The private life insurance industry sold 0.86 million policies compared to 0.74 million policies in the same month last year.