Among life insurance markets, India's ranking has gone up from 10th position to 9th position, displacing Taiwan. The share of the Indian life insurance industry has increased in world markets as Indians keep on growing richer, saving more for retirement, reports Mayur Shetty of the Economic Times.
In 2000, when life insurance industry was opened for competition, India was at the 20th position and accounted for only 0.5 percent of the world premium. It has been ten years since then, and the share has increased to 2.4 percent. The Indian life insurance industry has overtaken developed markets in the West such as Spain, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden Belgium, Ireland and Finland, South Africa Australia and Canada.
In the year 2009, the global insurance premiums contracted by 1.1 percent to $4.06 trillion, which is an improvement over 2008 when global premiums shrank 3.6 percent, according to Swiss Re's annual study of world insurance markets on an inflation-adjusted basis. While in 2009 life premiums fell 2 percent to $2.33 trillion, non-life premiums remained flat at $1.73 trillion.
According to Swiss Re, insurance grew faster than GDP in most countries. As credit and stock markets recovered in 2009, the industry was able to restore its capital base. Along with it, investment results and overall profitability also improved.
According to the report, adjusted for inflation, India's life insurance industry grew 10 percent to Rs. 2,73,604 crore. In India, the level of insurance penetration (insurance as a percentage of GDP) at 4.6 percent is double the insurance penetration levels in China (2.3 percent).
It is the United States that has seen the biggest drop in market share. Its world life insurance premium has come down to 21 percent, which was 29 percent in 2000. Japan too has seen its share drop from 26.4 percent to 17.2 percent.
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