Number of women buyer steadily rising for life insurance: IRDAI report

In a bid to accelerate the life insurance sector in the country, the number of women buyers, constituting 48% of the total population, is steadily rising, the IRDAI report states. As per the report, the share of women has increased to 36% in the number of policies and 37% in the first-year premium (FYP) in FY2018-19 as compared to 32% on both the counts in FY2017-18. The total number of life insurance policies sold in 2018-19 stood at 2.86 crore with an FYP of Rs 97,690 crore. Among the total number of policies sold, women accounted for 1.03 crore policies in FY2018-19 (90 lakh in previous fiscal) with an FYP of Rs 36,525 crore in FY2018-19 (Rs 29,801 crore). Anil Kumar Singh, Chief Actuarial Officer, Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurance, said, “This is a true reflection of the increasing financial awareness and independence of women in India. We, like many other life insurance companies, are also witnessing more women purchasing life insurance. Interestingly, the participation of women from tier-3 and -2 towns is higher than women from tier1.”