General insurance premium shows 'healthy' rise in June

The general insurance industry reported a 5.8% year-on-year rise in gross premium income in June, driven primarily by strong growth in retail health insurance.

The industry collected ₹23,256 crore in gross premiums during the month, rising from ₹21,984 crore a year earlier, according to data released by the General Insurance Council on Monday.

Standalone health insurers-who primarily operate in the retail health segment-recorded a 10.4% increase in premium collections.


Top insurers, however, had a mixed performance during the month.

Large private insurers like Bajaj Allianz clocked a 17% growth in premium income. In contrast, listed insurers such as ICICI Lombard saw a 10.3% decline. However, state-owned New India Assurance posted a 10.7% increase, and standalone health insurers like Niva Bupa also saw premiums growing by 15.5% while Star Health recorded a 2.8% increase.

Overall, the general insurance industry posted a 9% rise in premium income for the June quarter, reaching ₹78,917 crore. Most of the industry's April and May performance was backed by commercial business, but industry executives noted that clarity will emerge once segment-wise data is released.

"April and May were strong on commercial premium renewals, which might have masked the immediate impact of 1/n," a senior industry executive said.

Premium figures in June have the impact of insurance regulator Irdai's revised reporting format, which mandates recognition of premium income on a 1/n basis for multi-year policies.

Since the new format came into effect last October, the data for June 2024 was reported on a gross written premium (GWP) basis without such adjustments. As a result, the June 2025 numbers show the full GWP from fresh business but only a fraction (1/n) of premium from long-term policies, making year-on-year comparisons not like-to-like.

Also, segment-wise data will offer more clarity, executives said. Sale of motor insurance is expected to be muted in line with a slowdown in auto sales, they said.