A Comparative Study of Public & Private Life Insurance Companies in India
A Comparative Study of Public & Private Life Insurance Companies in India
A Comparative Study of Public & Private Life Insurance Companies in India
ABSTRACT
Since 1991, Indian economy and industry has moved away from a state controlled to a competitive market with
intrigate financial services to the global economy. The financial secto r, particularly, the Insurance has opened up to
all competiton. A revamp in tightly regulated and monopolised insurance sector was brought about by the passage of
the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority Act (IRDA) in 1999. The present paper ana lyses the
performance of public and private life insurance companies in India. As per the total premium income, in FY 201 4-15,
LIC with 73% of business share still holds a significant market share. 24 private insurance companies have
established footholds in the market leading to intense competition. Private Insurance companies have a higher growth
rate as compared to public sector. Today, Insurance penetration is better. The Insurance companies are competing in
terms of policies sold, collection of premium income and others.
Keywords: Life Insurance, Life insurance companies, Fresh life insurance premium, New insurance policies, Total
insurance premium.
INTRODUCTION
Life Insurance is a professional service which is characterized by high involvement of the consumers, due to
the importance of tailoring specific need, the variability of the products available, the complexity involved in the
policies and processes and ultimately the need to involve the consumer in every aspect of the transaction. Life
insurance more fondly known as Life Assurance has, in recent times ceased to be only a „Protection‟ or 'Legacy' for
the family and has turned into an important investment outlet.
India‟s economic development made it a most lucrative Insurance market in the world. Before the year 1999,
there was monopoly state run Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) transacting life business. Today, there are 24
private life insurance companies operating insurance business in India. The competition from these companies were
threatening to the existence of LIC. Since the liberalization of the industry the insurance industry has never looked
back and today stand as the one of the most competitive and exploring industry in India. In this paper, an attempt is
made to analyse the performance of public and private life insurance companies in India.
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
A thriving insurance sector is of vital importance to every modern economy. It encourages the savings habit,
it also provides a safety net to rural and urban enterprises and productive individuals, most importantly it generates
long-term invest-able funds for infrastructure building. The nature of the insurance business is such that the cash
inflow of insurance companies is constant while the payout is deferred and contingency related (Kumar, 2010).
During middle of 20th Century life insurance companies started to operate the evil play natural to all
business had its sway. Number of competitors were entered and abolished while profiteering. On 1 st September 1956,
Life Insurance Corporation of India came into existence after nationalisation of all 245 insurance providing
companies. Malhotra Committee was constituted by the government in 1993 to examine the various aspects of the
insurance industry. The key element of the reform process was Participation of overseas insurance companies with
26% capital. Creating a more efficient and competitive financial system suitable for the requirements of the economy
was the main idea behind this reform (Kannan, 2010). In 1999, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority
(IRDA) has been established to regulate the insurance business in the country (Chaudhary and Kiran, 2011).
Sinha (2005) in his paper highlights the phenomenal growth experienced recently in connection with
improvements in economic fundamentals. With comparison in growth, penetration, density and other insurance
variables it can be said that still India is an underdeveloped insurance market with huge catch -up potential. It is found
that there is potential for expansion of insurance into rural areas, growth has remained slow.
Chandrasekhar (2009) in his article “Learning Nothing, Forgetting Everything” observes that the
Government has been pushing ahead with privatization despite there being no evidence of the nationalized insurance
industry failing to meet its obligation to insurers or to the Government. The LIC has not only put at the Government‟s
disposal large volumes of capital for investment but also addressed the problems of insurance for the poor.
Krishnaswami (2009) in his book “Principles and Practice of Life Insurance” explains clearly the history of
insurance, advantages of insurance and the role of insurance in the economy and also in the society. The life insurance
products, the concepts of premium, investment management and solvency margin are also discussed at length in the
book.
Kannan (2010) viewed that India, being rich in population and most of the area is untapped, has tremendous
scope for growth in insurance sector. Today insurance busines s is growing at the rate of 15-20% annually. Together
with banking services, it adds about 7% to the country‟s GDP. In spite of all this growth the statistics of the
penetration of the insurance in the country is very poor. Nearly 80% of Indian populations are without Life insurance
cover and the Health insurance. This is an indicator that growth potential for the insurance sector is immense in India.
Imam (2011) analysed Customer behaviours in Life Insurance Industry. Researcher opined that the sale of
life insurance policies in India is less than many western and Asian countries. As second largest populated country in
world, the Indian insurance market is looking very prospective to many multinational and Indian insurance companies
for expanding their bus iness and market share. With their world market experience and network, these companies
have offered many good schemes to lure all type of Indian consumers, but unfortunately failed to get the major share
of market. Still the LIC is the biggest player in the life insurance market with approx. 65% market share.
Selvakumar & Piyan (2012) analysed the performance of public and private life insurance companies in
India. Researcher opined that today‟s market is customer centric, and customer is supposed to be king of market. To
satisfy customers innovations are taking place with distinct features to attract the customers.
Tiwari & Yadav (2012) conducted a Analytical study on Indian Life Insurance Industry in Post liberalization.
Researchers concluded that Indian market is untapped market and found good opportunity. After 1991, the Indian life
insurance industry has geared up in all respects and able to avail healthy competition from in -house and abroad
players.
Motwani and Anchliaa (2013) conducted and study in Udaipur city to study comparative behaviour between
public and private insurance companies. The was based on descriptive research design, in which a Close ended
questionnaire was used to collect the primary data from customers of various Insurance compa nies. Conclusions of
study reveal the impact of customers‟ demography on their choice
between Public & Private Insurance companies.
Sharma and Chowhan (2013) in the research paper "A Comparative Study of Public & Private Life
Insurance", made an attempt to analyse the performance of public and private life insurance companies in India.
Researches concluded that with the entry of private players, the competition is becoming intense. In order to satisfy
the customers, every company is trying to implement new creations and innovative product characteristics to attract
customers.
The objective of the present study is to compare the performance of public and private life insurance
companies for period of 2005-06 to 2014-15.
For the purpose of this study, the following null hypotheses are formed:
H0 1 : There is no significant difference in the growth rate of fresh business premium between public and private
life insurance companies.
H0 2 : There is no significant difference in the growth of number of new policies issued among public and private
life insurance companies.
H0 3 : There is no significant difference in the growth rate of total life insurance premium among public and private
life insurance companies.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The research paper is based upon descriptive as well as exploratory research. Secondary sources of data
collection have been adopted for the study. The relevant and required data are collected from the annual reports of
IRDA from 2005-06 to 2014-15. The performance of insurance companies is examined further by looking at the trend.
ANALYTICAL TOOLS
In order to analyse the collected data the following mathematical tools are employed :
To work out the trend analyses the following formula is used:
a.) Trend Analysis i.e. ŷ = a + b x
where ŷ = predicted value of the dependent variable
a = y – axis intercept,
b = slope of the regression line (or the rate of change in y for a given change in x),
x = independent variable (which is time in this case).
b.) Annual Growth Rate is worked out by using the following formula:
(X2 - X1 )
AGR = X 100
X1
COMPANY ANALYSIS
In December 1999, a bill was passed in the parliament with the passage of Insurance Regulatory and
Development Authority for its reform process. However with the setting up of IRDA, the government has once again
deregulated the sector by opening it for the private players.
Life Insurance Corporation of India (L.I.C.I) dominated the Indian Life Insurance market. But the situation
drastically changed since the beginning of the year 2000. With the development of the IRDA Act in 1999, private
players started entering into the life insurance market. At the end of March 2015, there are 53 insurance companies
operating in India; of which 24 are in the life insurance business including one public sector company (L.I.C. of India)
and 28 are in non-life insurance business.
On the basis of total premium income, the market share of LIC decreased from 75.39 per cent in 2013-14 to
73.05 per cent in 2014-15. The market share of private insurers has increased from 24.61 per cent in 2013-14 to 26.95
per cent in 2014-15. So, we can say that the state-owned Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) still holds a significant
majority of market share, though, other companies have established footholds.
ANALYSIS OF DATA
trend in the fresh business premium during the years from 2005-06 to 2014-15. The rate of annual growth was highest
in FY 2006-07 (89.16%) and it was lowest in FY 2011-12 (-18.49).
Table 1 : Details of Fresh Life Insurance Premium of LIC and Private Insurance Companies
(Amount in Rs. Crore)
Fig. 1 : Trends of Growth rate of Fresh Life Insurance Premium of LIC and Private Insurance Companies
LIC
100 Private
Linear (LIC)
80 Linear (Private)
60
40
y = -6.5283x + 53.845
R2 = 0.3478
20
y = -10.36x + 82.46
0 R2 = 0.5952
-20
2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15
Fig. 1 shows that trends of Annual growth rate for both, LIC and private insurance companies are negative as
trend lines are having negative slop.
To ascertain the significance of difference in growth rate of fresh life insurance premium of LIC of India and
private insurance companies operating in India in reference period, Mann-Whitnet U-test is employed and results are
shown in table No. 2.
To be significant, obtained value of U must be equal to or less than critical value of U at that significance
level.
Table 2 : Mann-Whitney U-test for Fresh Life Insurance Premium of Public And Private Insurance Companies
For N1 =10 and N2 =10, the critical value of U is 23 for a two-tailed test at the 0.05 significance level and 16
for a two-tailed test at the 0.01 significance level.
Our Obtain value of U = 47 which is more than critical value of U (23) at significance level 0.05, So, it can
be said that difference in growth rate of fresh insurance premium of LIC and Private Insurance companies is not
significant at p=0.05.
Table 3 : Details of New Life Insurance Policies issued by Public And Private Insurance Companies (FY 2005-
06 to FY 2014-15)
(Numbers in Lakh)
Table 3 presents the yearly data related to new life insurance policies issued for the period of FY 2005-06 to
2014-15. It indicate that growth rate of new life insurance policies issued by LIC is having mixed trend as the annual
growth in the numbers of new policies issued by LIC is was highest in FY 2005-06 (31.57%) and lowest in FY 2014-
15 (41.55%). Private insurance companies have also registered mixed growth and its annual growth rate varries
between 104.65% (FY 2006-07) and
-24.04% (FY 2011-12).
Fig. 2 : Trends of Growth rate for Numbers of New Policies Issued by LIC and Private Insurance Companies
120 LIC
100 Private
80
Linear (LIC)
Linear (Private)
60
40 y = -12.776x + 87.411
R2 = 0.6848
20
-20
y = -5.0744x + 28.092
-40
R2 = 0.6348
-60
2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15
Fig. 2 indicate that trend in growth of numbers of new life insurance policies issued by LIC as well as by
private insurance companies is negative, as slop of trend line for the same are negative. It is also revealed that this
negativity is more in for private insurance companies than the LIC of India.
Table 4 : Mann-Whitney U-test for New Life Insurance Policies issued by LIC and Private Insurance
Companies
LIC Private Companies
FY
AGR Rank AGR Rank
2005-06 31.75 17 73.35 19
2006-07 21.01 16 104.65 20
2007-08 -1.61 12 67.41 18
2008-09 -4.52 9 13.19 15
2009-10 8.21 14 -4.32 10
2010-11 -4.70 8 -22.62 3
2011-12 -3.47 11 -24.04 2
2012-13 2.88 13 -12.28 5
2013-14 -6.17 7 -14.11 4
2014-15 -41.55 1 -9.79 6
Sum of Rank order 108 102
No. of Data 10 10
U-value 47
Our Obtain value of U = 47 which is more than critical value of U (23) at significance level 0.05, So, it can
be said that difference in growth rate of New insurance policies issued by LIC and Private Insurance companies yearly
is not significant at p=0.05.
Table 5 indicates that the total life insurance premium of LIC of India was Rs. 90792.22 Crore in 2005-06 and it has
increased to Rs. 239667.65 Crore in 2014-15. There is a contineous increase in total life insurance premium of LIC of
India, except in FY 2011-12, when it has registered a negative annual growth (-0.29%). The total life insurance
premium of private insurance companies was 15083.54 Crore in 2005-06 and it has contineously increased to
79369.94 Crore in 2009-10. After 2009-10, it has shown mixed trend in annual growth rate and at the end of FY 2014-
15, the total life insurance premium of private insurance companies was Rs. 88433.49 Cr.
Table 5 : Details of Total Life Insurance Premium of Public And Private Insurance Companies
(Amount in Rs. Crore)
Private Insurance
LIC
FY Componies
Amount AGR (% ) Amount AGR (% )
2005-06 90792.22 20.85 15083.54 95.19
2006-07 127822.84 40.79 28253.00 87.31
2007-08 149789.99 17.19 51561.42 82.50
2008-09 157288.04 5.01 64497.43 25.09
2009-10 186077.31 18.30 79369.94 23.06
2010-11 203473.40 9.35 39385.84 -50.38
2011-12 202889.28 -0.29 84182.83 113.74
2012-13 208803.58 2.92 78398.91 -6.87
2013-14 236942.30 13.48 77340.90 -1.33
2014-15 239667.65 1.15 88433.49 14.32
Fig. 3 : Trends of Growth rate of Total Life Insurance Premium of LIC and Private Insurance Companies
140 LIC
120 Private
100 Linear (LIC)
80 y = -9.713x + 91.685 Linear (Private)
60 R2 = 0.3024
40
20
0
y = -2.8162x + 28.364
-20 R2 = 0.4757
-40
-60
2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15
It can be observed from Fig 3 that the trend in growth rate of total life insurance premium for LIC of India as
well as private insurance companies are negative.
To ascertain the significance of difference in growth rate of total life insurance premium for LIC and private
insurance companies, Mann-Whitney U-test is carried out :
Table 6 : Mann-Whitney U-test for Total Life Insurance Premium of LIC and Private Insurance Companies
Our Obtain value of U = 36 which is moe than critical value of U (23) at significance level 0.05, i.e. it can be
said that difference in growth rate of Total insurance premium of LIC and Private Insurance companies is non-
significant at p=0.05.
Trend in growth of numbers of new life insurance policies issued by LIC as well as by private insurance
companies is negative, as slop of trend line for the same are negative.
Trend in growth rate of total life insurance premium for LIC of India as well as private insurance companies
are negative.
These results clearly indicate that Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) still holds a significant majority of market
share, though, private companies have established footholds.
H0 1 : For N1 =10 and N2 =10, Obtain value of U for growth rate of fresh life insurance premium (47) is more than
critical value of U (23) at significance level 0.05, So, it can be said that difference in growth rate of fresh
insurance premium of LIC and Private Insurance companies is not significant at p=0.05. It proves the null
hypothesis H0 1 "There is no significant difference in the growth rate of fresh life insurance premium between
public and private life insurance companies."
H0 2 : For N1 =10 and N2 =10, Obtain value of U (47) is more than critical value of U (23) at significance level 0.05,
So, it can be said that difference in growth rate of New insurance policies issued b y LIC and Private
Insurance companies yearly is not significant at p=0.05. It proves the null hypothesis H 0 2 "There is no
significant difference in the growth of number of new policies issued among public and private life insurance
companies."
H0 3 : For N1 =10 and N2 =10, Obtain value of U (39) is more than critical value of U (23) at significance level 0.05,
i.e. it can be said that difference in growth rate of Total insurance premium of LIC and Private Insurance
companies is not significant at p=0.05. It proves the null hypothesis H0 3 "There is no significant difference in
the growth rate of total life insurance premium among public and private life insurance companies."
CONCLUSION
The life insurance plays a significant role in supplying long -term capital to national economy and
accelerating the process of self generation of the gross production of national saving. The Indian life insurance system
is having significant base on mixed economic system where in the public sector occupied a monopolistic position in
life insurance business. Private players play a major role in life insurance business more efficient and customer
friendly. They have also jolted and facing stiff competition from the LIC. It is therefore, by the expansion of
population, share of private sector life insurance companies in fresh life insurance primium has increased from
marely 26.48% in FY 2005-06 to 30.73% in FY 2014-15 and in issueing of new insurance policies drom 10.92% in
FY 2005-06 to 22.14% in FY 2014-15 is remarkable (Table 7).
The share of private Sector life insurance companies in total life insurance premium is also increased from
14.25% in Fy 2005-06 to 26.95% in FY 2014-15 (Table 7). It is clear evidence Private Insurance Companies have
made their presence felt and over the years have achieved remarkable progress. There is a big opportunity to these
companies in the Indian Life Insurance Sector. The companies have to bring out innovative products to suit the
different requirements of the public. A healthy competition in the sector would be beneficial to both the players and
also the public
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