The general insurance data released for December showed health plus general insurance premiums have grown by 12 percent year-on-year (YoY). Ex-standalone health insurance, general insurance companies’ premium grew by 11 percent YoY. Standalone health insurance has grown by 5 percent YoY.

ICICI Lombard saw a growth of 10.5 percent YoY and is 4 percent year-to-date (YTD). New India saw a growth in premium of 16 percent YoY and is up 3 percent YTD. Among the unlisted companies, HDFC Ergo saw a growth of 40 percent YoY and is up 26 percent YTD. National Insurance saw a 42 percent growth in December premium. However, it is down 5.4 percent YTD.

Santanu Chakrabarti, Head-BFSI Research & Senior VP of Edelweiss Financial Services said health insurance has seen a strong growth on the back of COVID.

"The one segment which has remained strong throughout as you would expect coming out of a pandemic has been the health insurance piece. The numbers that you see for the mono-line health insurers are absolutely eye popping, 50-60 percent kind of growth across the board," he said in an interview to CNBC-TV18.

Chakrabarti said that they have a coverage on ICICI Lombard and Bajaj General. However the preferred pick is ICICI Lombard, he said.

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(Edited by : Priyanka Rathi)