Journal Press India^®

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Before 1999, the insurance sector was characterized by state-run monopoly, with LIC as the only player. On the recommendations of the Malhotra Committee in the year 1999, the insurance sector was opened up for national and international players. Competition started shooting up and insurance business started witnessing a growth in premium as a percentage of GDP (insurance penetration) from 2.3% p.a. in 2001 to 5.2% p.a. in 2011. Thus, the need was realised to find out the growth of insurance companies in terms of various indicators pertaining to insurance business and to have a comparative analysis of growth of life insurance companies in India. The objective of this paper is to analyse and comment upon the growth rate of thirteen life insurance companies covered for the study for a period of eight years. It has been found in the study that almost all life insurance companies are witnessing a rising trend in terms of various growth indicators, though the growth rate for different companies is different. The main question is whether LIC has been affected by the competition. We have tried to answer this question through the empirical analysis of performance of individual insurance companies. In terms of most of variables LIC has been at the bottom of the list.

Keywords

Life insurance, Growth indicators, Performance of Life Insurers

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