General Insurance premiums see 20% y-o-y growth in February

Non-life insurance companies continued their double-digit growth in February, with premiums growing 20 per cent year-on-year to Rs. 19,876 crore led by health and motor insurance. So far in FY23, premiums for the sector have grown 16.9 per cent, compared with 11 per cent for the corresponding period of the previous year.

General Insurers’ premiums were up 15.6 per cent year-on-year compared with 7.7 per cent growth in February 2022. Premium growth for standalone private health insurers grew to Rs. 2,320 crore from Rs. 1,829 crore a year ago, but was lower than Rs. 2,560 crore, a month ago.

The month-on-month growth and for the 11-month period ended February was slower than last year due to normalised growth in the government and retail health schemes, which had seen significant growth last year, CARE Ratings said in a note.

Private companies reported higher growth of 21.5% compared with PSU non-life insurers’ growth of 17.5 per cent. For the year-to-date, private players grew 2.2 times their PSU peers, taking their market share to 61 per cent from 59 per cent a year ago.

The share of health insurance as a segment improved to 35.2 per cent for the 11-month period, up from 29.4 per cent two years ago. On a yearly basis, the segment grew 23.9 per cent, lower than the 25.6 per cent growth seen last year owing to a smaller base.