With more players, products and rising consciousness about the need for insurance, the market has to grow. As for the team, the existing management team continues (at ICICI Prudential) to be there. The team has built a solid business, an excellent brand. The systems are in place, so it is a good stepping stone, says Vaidyanathan.
Some of the leading life insurance companies have reported a sharp decline in the number of lives covered in FY25, largely due to a slowdown in credit-linked life insurance policies. Stress in the microfinance segment has reduced loan disbursements and, in turn, the flow of new customers to insurers.
ICICI Prudential Life Insurance has become the first private insurance company to cross Rs 10,000 crore sum assured over a premium income of Rs 680 crore within 3 years of operations and plans to hike its capital further to expand the business.
Canadian firm Manulife and Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), an Indian automaker with interests in financial services, have signed an agreement to form a 50:50 life insurance joint venture (JV) with a total capital commitment of up to Rs 3,600 crore each totalling Rs 7,200 crore.
The reduction in goods & services tax (GST) on individual life and health insurance premiums has been called a "landmark step" for making insurance affordable and inclusive. In a panel discussion at the Business Standard BFSI Insight Summit 2025, Anup Bagchi, managing director (MD) & chief executive officer (CEO) of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance; Mahesh Balasubramanian, MD & CEO of Kotak Life Insurance; Tarun Chugh, MD & CEO of Bajaj Life Insurance; and Ratnakar Patnaik, MD of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), listed what else the industry needs to reach more people.
Both the life and non-life insurance segment posted over 20 per cent premium growth in November for the first time in this financial year (FY26), supported by the reduction in goods and services tax (GST) on premiums from 18 per cent to zero and a favourable base effect.
While investments are typically reviewed annually, risk cover is often left unchanged for years.
Prudential ICICI's managing director, Shikha Sharma, talks about how the journey has been so far and also why she thinks unit-linked insurance plans are the best allocators of long-term funds.
Sources said that this is a contingency plan, in the event of an exit of the present heads of its two subsidiaries ICICI Prudential and ICICI Ventures. At present, Shikha Sharma is managing director & chief executive officer (CEO) of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, while Renuka Ramanathan is managing director and CEO of ICICI Ventures.
HDFC Life, which posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 281.83 crore (Rs 2.81 billion) for the quarter ended June compared with Rs 11.92 crore (Rs 119.2 million) in corresponding period last year (according to HDFC's first quarter results), has diversified its distribution mix.
Make sure the rider adds value rather than just adding to cost.
In order for life insurance customers to attain maximum benefits, it is crucial for the persistency ratio to be far higher than its current level, top executives of the industry said at the Business Standard BFSI Insight Summit on Thursday. The persistency ratio is a metric that measures the number of policyholders who continue paying renewal premium and is gauged at varying stages in the life of a policy. A higher persistency ratio is seen as an indicator of an insurance product that caters satisfactorily to the needs of a customer.
As of March 25, life insurers have paid Rs 1,986 crore towards 25,500 Covid death claims
ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company Ltd will consider an initial public offering on reaching an overall market share of around 10 per cent even as ICICI Prudential Life Insurance plans to increase its capital base in the current fiscal.
A seasoned banker with over 30 years of experience, Bakhshi is a mechanical engineer from Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh. He has a post-graduate degree in management from Xavier Labour Relations Institute.
The board of ICICI Bank, the country's second-largest lender, will take a final call on appointing a successor to K V Kamath, its present managing director and chief executive officer, next month.
Kochhar retires by rotation, and being eligible, has offered herself for reappointment as director, said the broking arm in a notice for its Annual General Meeting to be held on August 30
The share of life insurance policies sold by top private insurers in the rural areas declined in the financial year 2023-24 (FY24) compared to previous year. SBI Life, HDFC Life, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance -- the top three players from the private sector-- have seen the share of insurance policies sold in rural areas drop in FY24 as compared to the previous financial year. Max Life Insurance's share of rural policies recorded an increase in FY24.
Sandeep Bakhshi named chief operating officer, who would be handling all the businesses.
High-value insurance policies experienced muted growth in the first six months of the current financial year after the Centre decided to tax such products in this year's Budget. Simultaneously, there has been a marked improvement in the growth of policies with premiums of 'less than Rs 5 lakh', mainly originating from smaller cities. During this year's Budget, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed that insurance policies (excluding unit linked insurance plans or ULIPs) with an aggregate premium exceeding Rs 5 lakh, and the maturity amount, would not be exempt from tax.
Of the existing set of potential leaders, Bakhshi was clearly the only choice as he beat out other high-level candidates that included executive directors Anup Bagchi, Vishakha Mulye, NS Kannan, and Vijay Chandok who were lacking the all-round game that Bakhshi has.
'If through growth and serving the customer we become number one, we will be very happy and very proud.'
'As our per capita income increases and various demographic segments emerge, the need for various kinds of protection and risk covers will become even more explicit.'
Our focus around technology, cost efficiency, persistency and effective distribution channel will continue, says the ICICI Bank MD and CEO.
Bupa and Axa have already declared their intention to raise stakes.
New India Assurance and Niva Bupa have invested in the Bima Sugam India Federation.
Private sector lender Axis Bank on Monday said its board has recommended the appointment of Shikha Sharma, currently chief of ICICI group's life insurance business, as its next managing director and CEO.
Some of the key names include: Maruti, M&M, Ashok Leyland, Britannia, Ultratech, JK Cement, Havells, Voltas, Amber, Metro, Trent, LemonTree, Indian Hotels, Niva Bupa, HDFC Life, IGL, Acme Solar, Suzlon, Swiggy, Delhivery, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Bajaj Finance, Shriram Finance," according to a report by Motilal Oswal Financial Services.
Executive Director V Vaidyanathan will assume the position of managing director and chief executive officer of the bank's life insurance arm, ICICI Prudential. This slot had fallen vacant as Shikha Sharma decided to move to Axis Bank.
In a career spanning over 29 years, Sharma has had a wide exposure across the entire spectrum of financial services and has held several leadership positions across various market-leading businesses, the bank said in a statement. Axis Bank is the third-largest private sector bank in India and its network spans across more than 840 offices and over 3,600 ATMs.
Vaidyanathan's compensation is 'a performance-linked booty'.
'Markets are back in the 15000-16000 range, it's a barometer of confidence as much as it is of economic prospects.'
In numerous instances, family members are unaware of an insurance policy's existence, let alone its details.
While the proposed new tax regime is optional for taxpayers, the finance minister has said the government eventually wants to do away with all exemptions with a lower tax-rate simplified structure.
HDFC Life has a balance between traditional policies and Ulips
Contrary to expectations, the new business premium (NBP) of life insurance companies dropped 12.62 per cent year-on-year (YoY) in March 2023 due to an over 30 per cent drop in Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India's premiums, albeit on a high base. Data released by the Life Insurance Council shows the industry racked up NBP of Rs 52,081 crore in March 2023, compared with Rs 59,608.83 crore in the year-ago period. NBP is the premium acquired from new policies in a year. It is the sum of the first-year premium and single premium, reflecting the total premium received from new businesses.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances