Life insurers’ retail protection biz down YoY

Most listed life insurers that reported their July-September (Q2FY23) quarterly earnings last week, saw their retail protection business decline on a year-on-year (YoY) basis, with the exception of Max Life Insurance, as was the case in Q1.

However, some momentum was witnessed on a sequential basis, and according to industry insiders, the segment will see growth going ahead as the supply side constraints ease.

Persisting supply-side constraints due to the Covid pandemic and the rate hikes taken by reinsurers over the past two years have impacted the growth of the retail protection business of life insurers.

however, group protection busines shas been growing rapidly as disbursements from banks and non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) have picked up sharply during the past few quarters.

In an analysts call following the earnings announcement ICICI Prudential Life said, “The retail protection growth, though challenged on a year-on-year basis, has broadly stabilised on a sequential basis.”