Life Insurance Corporation has mopped up over Rs 5,200 crore (Rs 52 billion) from Varishtha Pension Bima Yojana, but its market share from other products dipped further to 87.76 per cent till January.

Also Read Varishtha Pension Scheme: FAQ

The life insurance industry witnessed a 15 per cent drop in business to Rs 1,432 crore (Rs 14.32 billion) during January compared to Rs 1,746 crore (Rs 17.46 billion) in December, mainly due to the lower premium income of LIC.

During the first 10 months, LIC and 12 private players mopped up Rs 11,145 crore (Rs 111.45 billion) in premium income after selling 1.78 crore (17.8 million) policies, according to figures compiled by the Insurance Regulatory Development Authority.

While LIC was able to collect Rs 9,780 crore (Rs 97.80 billion) from various schemes except the government subsidised schemes, the private players mopped up Rs 1,365 crore (Rs 13.65 billion).

LIC mopped up Rs 5,200 crore (Rs 52 billion) from the Varishtha scheme and hopes to cross the Rs 6,000 crore (Rs 60 billion) mark by March end, its chairman S B Mathur told PTI while reacting to the resounding success of the scheme which offers 9 per cent assured return.

But leaving aside Varishtha, LIC's market share dropped to 87.76 per cent from 88.21 per cent in December, as private players like ICICI Prudential, Birla Sunlife, HDFC Standard Life, Aviva and SBI Life grew faster and increased their share.

ICICI Prudential Life hiked its market share to 4.17 per cent after mopping up Rs 465 crore (Rs 4.65 billion) in premium till January.

Birla Sunlife collected Rs 195 crore (Rs 1,950 million) in premium and has 1.75 per cent of the market, while HDFC Standard Life mopped up Rs 128 crore (Rs 1,280 million), Tata AIG [Rs 115 crore (Rs 1,150 million)], SBI Life and Allianz Bajaj [Rs 94 crore (Rs 940 million) each], Max New York Life [Rs 91 crore (Rs 910 million)], OM Kotak [(Rs 60 crore (Rs 600 million)], Aviva [Rs 51 crore (Rs 510 million)], ING Vysya [Rs 38 crore (Rs 380 million)].