The July business figures failed to bring any cheer to the listed private life insurance companies on premiums and market share growth.

As per the data published by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India or IRDAI, HDFC Life in the month of July lost its market share by 51 basis points between January to July 2019 to 6.56 percent.

July premium growth for HDFC Life stood at 25.8 percent against 42 percent in Q1FY20. There was slowdown seen on the Annual Premium Equivalent or APE front as well which in the month of July grew at 57.7 percent against 62.72 percent in Q1FY20.

ICICI Prudential took the maximum damage with company’s July APE showing a contraction of 1.3 percent against a growth of 1 percent in Q1FY20. The company also lost its market share by 102 bps in the period between January to July 2019. The market share now stands at 3.86 percent.

Max Life has been an exception in an otherwise dull market. The company in the month of July grew its premium by 38.3 percent against a growth of 24.6 percent in Q1FY20.

Major disappointment also came in for SBI Life in the month of July. Company’s market July premium grew by 8 percent against growth of 35 percent in Q1FY20.

Overall, the private life insurance space lost market share by 6.9 percent with its premium in the month of July growing at 15.46 percent against 27 percent in Q1FY20.

The Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) held on to its market share of 73.1 percent at the end of July 2019. The premium for the life insurance major in the month of July grew at 3.1 percent with its APE growing at 10.4 percent in the month of July.

First Published:Aug 14, 2019 4:27 PM IST