Whats the outlook for life insurance in the current market environment?
Though the growth rate has softened in the life insurance sector, long-term fundamentals remain unchanged. Even in this challenging environment, new business premium for Birla Sun Life Insurance grew by 44 per cent against a 3 per cent fall for the industry overall. India is one of the fastest growing life insurance markets supported by sustainable economic growth, a favourable demographic mix, lower penetration levels and rising public awareness. In India, the ratio of life insurance premium to GDP is about 4.3 per cent, which is much lower than the 6 per cent to 9 per cent in developed countries, typically, the financial services business grows faster than GDP growth. These are big positives for the business. Growth in new business premium is slowing down, so is Birla Sun Life Insurance becoming less aggressive? BSLI is realigning branch openings to match its growth outlook. The thrust is on achieving better sales from the existing distribution setup and devising low cost channels to
