India is tenth largest life insurance market

Chennai: Globally, India ranks 10th in terms of life insurance and 15th in non-life insurance in terms of premium. India is among the few countries with high growth rates for both life and non-life insurance.

In the global insurance market, India has a share of 1.92 per cent. In the life insurance segment, the share is slightly higher at 2.61 per cent and the country ranks 10th among 88 global markets, a study by Swiss Re finds.

India's inflation-adjusted real life premium grew 7.7 per cent in 2018 against the global growth of 0.2 per cent. The growth rate was higher than that of advanced countries, emerging markets and the Asia-Pacific.

The real premiums in non-life grew stronger at 14 per cent against the global average of 3 per cent. With 1.1 per cent share in the global non-life insurance business, India was ranked 15th largest market. India's growth was higher than 1.9 per cent of advanced markets, 7.1 per cent of emerging markets and 6.4 per cent of Asia Pacific countries.

Driven by emerging markets, global life insurance premiums are expected to grow faster in 2019-20 and above the annual average of 10 years. Non-life premiums too are likely to grow higher than the historical average.

Unlike other markets, India's insurance business is heavily dominated by life, with a share of 73.85 per cent. Non-life accounts for 26.15 per cent share.

Globally, life contributes for 54.30 per cent and non-life 45.70 per cent. While life has a penetration of 2.74 per cent, for non-life it is 0.97 per cent. The life insurance penetration has been declining since 2009 when it stood at 4.60 per cent. At the end of March 2019, 70 insurers were operating in India, of which eight are public insurers and 62, private insurers. There are 24 life insurers, 27 general insurers, 7 standalone health insurers and 12 re-insurers.