Growth of Life Insurance Business in India: A Study

In India, insurance has a deep-rooted history. It finds mention in the writings of Manu (Manusmrithi), Yagnavalkya (Dharmasastra) and Kautilya (Arthasastra). The writings talk in terms of pooling of resources that could be re-distributed in times of calamities such as fire, floods, epidemics and famine. This was probably a pre-cursor to modern day insurance. Ancient Indian history has preserved the earliest traces of insurance in the form of marine trade loans and carriers' contracts. Insurance in India has evolved over time heavily drawing from other countries, England in particular. Life Insurance in its modern form came to India from England in the year 1818. Oriental Life Insurance Company started by Europeans in Calcutta was the first life insurance company on Indian Soil. All the insurance companies established during that period were brought up with the purpose of looking after the needs of European community and Indian natives were not being insured by these companies. The insurance sector has gone through a number of phases by allowing private companies to solicit insurance and also allowing foreign direct investment. India allowed private companies in insurance sector in 2000, setting a limit on FDI to 26%, which was increased to 49% in 2014. However, the largest life-insurance company in India, Life Insurance Corporation of India is still owned by the government and carries a sovereign guarantee for all insurance policies issued by it. The present study examines the growth Life Insurance business in India. Popular financial tool like CAGR is used for the study along with some popular statistical tools like t-test and ANOVA. Secondary data published by IRDA and the Annual Reports of LICI is used for the study for a period from 2008-09 to 2016-17. The study is empirical in nature.