There are 24 Life Insurance companies in India approved by IRDAI:
| SR No. | Insurance Company | Short Introduction |
| 1 | LIC | Oldest and biggest Insurance company of India. The operations started in 1956 |
| 2 | Aditya Birla SunLife | Joint Venture of Aditya Birla Group and SunLife Financial Inc |
| 3 | Aegon Life Insurance Co. Ltd. | The company started its operation in 2008. |
| 4 | Ageas Federal Life Insurance Co. Ltd. | Joint Venture of Ageas Bank, Federal bank and Ageas Insurance Company. |
| 5 | Aviva Life Insurance Co. India Ltd. | Joint Venture of Dabur Group and Aviva Group. |
| 6 | Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance Co. Ltd. | Joint Venture of Bajaj Finserv Ltd. And Allianz SE |
| 7 | Bharti AXA Life Insurance Co. Ltd. | Joint Venture of Bharti Enterprises and AXA Group |
| 8 | Canara HSBC OBC Life Insurance Co. Ltd. | Joint Venture of HSBC Insurance Holding Ltd., Canara Bank and Oriental Bank. |
| 9 | Edelweiss Tokio Life Insurance Co. Ltd. | Joint Venture of Edelweiss Group and Tokyo Marina Group |
| 10 | Exide Life Insurance Co. Ltd. | The company started its operation in 2001. |
| 11 | Future Generali India Life Insurance Co. Ltd. | Joint Venture of Generali Group, Future Group and Industrial Investment Trust Ltd. |
| 12 | HDFC Standard Life Insurance Co. Ltd. | Joint Venture of HDFC and Standard Life Plus. |
| 13 | ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Co. Ltd. | Joint Venture of ICICI Bank and Prudential Plus. |
| 14 | India First Life Insurance Co. Ltd. | Joint Venture of Bank of Baroda, Andhra bank and UK based investment firm Legal and General. |
| 15 | Kotak Mahindra Life Insurance Ltd. | Joint Venture of Kotak Mahindra Group and Old Mutual Fund |
| 16 | Max Life Insurance Co. Ltd. | Joint Venture of Max Financial Services and Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co. Ltd. |
| 17 | PNB MetLife India Insurance Co. Ltd. | Joint Venture of PNB Bank and MetLife India Insurance Co. Ltd. |
| 18 | DHFL Pramerica Life Insurance Co. Ltd. | Joint Venture of DHFL and Prudential International Insurance Holding Inc. |
| 19 | Reliance Nippon Life Insurance Co. Ltd. | Joint Venture of reliance Group and Nippon Life |
| 20 | Sahara India Life Insurance Co. Ltd. | It is India’s first wholly owned private Life Insurance company |
| 21 | SBI Life Insurance Co. Ltd. | Joint Venture of SBI Bank and BNP Paribas Cardiff |
| 22 | Shriram Life Insurance Co. Ltd. | Joint Venture of Shriram Group and Sanlam Group |
| 23 | Star Union Dai-chi Life Insurance Co. Ltd. | Joint Venture of Bank of India, Union Bank and Japanese Insurance company Dai-chi Life |
| 24 | Tata AIA Life Insurance Co. Ltd. | Joint Venture of Tata Sons and AIA Group. |
IRDAI is the regulatory body for all the Insurance companies in India. Among these Insurance companies, LIC is the only public sector company while all others are private insurance companies. Most of the private sector insurance companies have tied up with International Insurance companies to provide new age life insurance products with additional benefits for the betterment of society.
IRDAI along with regulating the Insurance companies also takes numerous measures to bring consumer awareness on the importance of life insurance in India, yet over 75% of India’s population does not have a life insurance.
Life Insurance is one of the most vital investments in one’s life, yet only a few know how to evaluate which is the best life insurance company in India based on the fundamentals of the Insurance companies and comparing policies with individual financial needs.
An average individual in India purchases a life insurance policy with limited information like premiums, tenure, sum assured and process to file a claim. Even among these, premiums are the most preferred point of comparison. Insurance company that offers lowest premiums is usually termed “best life insurance companies in India”
We would recommend you consider the below fundamentals to evaluate Insurance companies to get the real best:
- Claim Settlement Ratio (CSR)
Claim settlement ratio is one of the most important point of comparison. You can get the CSR figure of every life insurance company in India from the IRDAI annual reports, it denotes the percentage of claims settled by an insurance company against all claims received in a year.
It is recommended to select insurance companies having higher CSR for the purchase of a life insurance policy.
| IRDA Life Insurance Companies Claim Settlement Ratio 2022 | |||||
|
SR No. |
Insurance Company |
Total Claims | Claim Settlement Ratio | ||
| No. of Policies | Benefit Amount (in crore) | Claim Settlement (as % of Policies) | Claim Settlement (as % of Benefit Amount) | ||
| 1 | LIC | 933889 | 18295 | 98.62% | 95.76% |
| 2 | Aditya Birla SunLife | 6455 | 468.85 | 98.04% | 93.15% |
| 3 | Aegon | 398 | 105.98 | 99.25% | 98.64% |
| 4 | Ageas Federal | 1716 | 73.85 | 95.07% | 83.63% |
| 5 | Aviva | 1034 | 111.57 | 98.01% | 95.24% |
| 6 | Bajaj Allianz | 14115 | 410.68 | 98.48% | 91.97% |
| 7 | Bharti Axa | 1875 | 106.04 | 99.05% | 98.55% |
| 8 | Canara HSBC OBC | 1844 | 156.08 | 97.10% | 92.61% |
| 9 | Edelweiss Tokio | 487 | 45.83 | 97.01% | 87.98% |
| 10 | Exide | 4978 | 170.43 | 98.54% | 93.28% |
| 11 | Future Generali | 1163 | 48.11 | 94.86% | 86.24% |
| 12 | HDFC Life | 16639 | 1037.23 | 98.01% | 80.06% |
| 13 | ICICI Pru Life | 14518 | 1504.64 | 97.90% | 89.20% |
| 14 | India First | 2886 | 109.64 | 96.81% | 91.16% |
| 15 | Kotak Mahindra | 4336 | 299.92 | 98.50% | 95.47% |
| 16 | Max Life | 19922 | 885.57 | 99.35% | 95.42% |
| 17 | PNB MetLife | 5218 | 331.7 | 98.17% | 93.92% |
| 18 | Pramerica Life | 638 | 28.63 | 98.61% | 97.01% |
| 19 | Reliance Nippon | 9274 | 205.26 | 98.91% | 95.03% |
| 20 | Sahara Life | 860 | 9.02 | 97.18% | 97.47% |
| 21 | SBI Life | 31855 | 1398.7 | 93.09% | 86.22% |
| 22 | Shriram Life | 3506 | 95.81 | 95.12% | 77.48% |
| 23 | Star Union | 1569 | 72.49 | 95.96% | 92.79% |
| 24 | Tata AIA | 4556 | 478.4 | 98.02% | 87.57% |
Source: IRDA Annual Report 2021-2022
- Persistency Ratio
Persistency Ratio provides you with the information of how much percentage of policy holders have renewed their policies with the insurance companies. IRDAI reports these numbers for all insurance companies at intervals of 13, 25, 37 and 61 months.
It is recommended to select insurance companies having higher Persistency ratio for the purchase of a life insurance policy.
- Solvency Ratio
Solvency ratio indicates the financial stability of an insurance company as it compares all assets and inflows against the liabilities and outflows. IRDAI mandates all Insurance companies in India to have solvency ratio greater than 150%.
It is recommended to select insurance companies having higher Solvency ratio for the purchase of a life insurance policy.
- Incurred Claim Ratio (ICR)
ICR indicates the financial ability of the life insurance companies to pay claims. The ICR value is calculated using the value of claims paid against the total claim settled in a year.
It is recommended to select insurance companies having higher ICR or greater than 75% for the purchase of a life insurance policy.
- Commission Expense Ratio (CER)
CER indicates the expenses paid by a life insurance companies towards expenses such as agent’s commission, advertisement, employee wages, etc. The CER value is calculated as a percentage of expenses made by an insurance company to the net premium collected in a year.
A higher CER would mean the insurance company may increase the premiums in near future. Hence, it is recommended to select insurance companies having lower CER.
- Customer Service
Its difficult to evaluate the quality of customer service before you have purchased a life insurance policy. You may view the ratings and read reviews on the customer services on internet for any Insurance company, however that does not guarantee a good customer service.
Hence, its recommended that you buy a life insurance policy from an insurance agent or advisor who can be your point of contact for most of your customer service requirement and also guide you in choosing the best life insurance companies in India.
