Reliance Life tops in new policy sales, ICICI Pru in premium collections

Reliance Life Insurance, an Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group company, has emerged as the leading private sector insurer in the country in terms of the number of policies sold in the first eight months of the current financial year.

Reliance Life Insurance sold 13,12,389 policies between April and November 2010, as against 12,61,668 in the corresponding period last year, according to data released by Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority today.

At the same time, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, another private sector company, topped all other life insurers in premium collection, at Rs4,053 crore for the period. SBI Life was second with Rs3,952 crore.

Reliance Life Insurance executive director and president Malay Ghosh said, "Our wide-ranging products, catering to every section of the society, and our pan-India presence with quality service, helped us notch up this business milestone."

Reliance Life was followed by Bajaj Allianz and ICICI Prudential, which sold 9,49,183 and 8,26,904 policies respectively between April and November this year.

Nevertheless, the country's largest insurer, state-owned Life Insurance Corporation, continued to lead the pack when it came to policy sales, notching up 1,93,54,765 new customers in the first eight months of the ongoing fiscal, down 1 per cent from 1,95,77,088 a year ago.