Life insurance firms reported an increase of about 27 per cent in new premium collection in February at ₹13,698.52 crore, data from insurance regulator IRDAI showed on Wednesday.

Of the 24 life insurance firms, the new premium collection of LIC, the country’s only state-owned as well as the largest insurer, was up 24 per cent to ₹8,476.73 crore during the month.

The remaining 23 private sector players had new premium collection of ₹5,221.79 crore in February, up 32.4 per cent from a year ago, showed Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India data.

Private sector players

Among the private sector life insurers, SBI Life reported new premium of ₹709.72 crore in the 11th month of this fiscal, up 32 per cent; HDFC Standard Life witnessed a jump of 80.4 per cent in new premium at ₹1,190.90 crore during the month.

Of the others, ICICI Prudential Life had new business worth ₹780.79 crore, down 12 per cent from a year ago, Bajaj Allianz Life was at ₹368.49 crore against ₹177.51 crore a year ago and Birla Sun Life ₹182.79 crore against ₹142.43 crore.

Bajaj Allianz said this is the highest increase in new business premium for the company among the top players in the insurance industry. The growth was 107.59 per cent.

Cumulatively, all the 24 life insurance companies’ new premium collection during the April-February period of this fiscal increased to ₹1,64,321.18 crore, from ₹1,40,346.76 crore a year ago.