Tuesday, February 15 2005 12:53 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) today (Feb 15, 2005) projected that insurance industry would sustain a double digit growth in the coming years which would assist the economy in moving on to a higher growth path.

"The insurance sector has been witnessing double digit growth - 35 per cent in life and 15 per cent in non-life insurance. The double digit growth can be sustained," IRDA chairman C S Rao said at the global actuaries conference in New Delhi.

The 14 life insurance companies have mopped up a premium of Rs 13,153 crore from new business during April-December 2004-05, while 12 non-life insurers collected Rs 13,570 crore.

With a robust growth in long-term savings, he said that the economy too could sustain a high GDP growth.

Though the IRDA chief lauded insurers for the launch of a variety of products numbering 370 since 2000, as against 60 odd products that Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) had prior to that, he said the need of the hour was to market the products properly and come up with cheaper products for the poor.

The stiff competition among PSUs and private insurers has led to an increase in the insurance penetration and a rise in the ratio of premium to the overall GDP.

He said that the notion that opening up of insurance sector to private players has weakened PSUs was "unfounded" as most of the State-owned insurers have increased their growth in business after 2000. "Increase in the market share of private players reflected the untapped market," he said.

Highlighting the importance of actuaries in developing insurance sector, he said IRDA was planning to set up an institute for imparting such training apart from cooperation and consultation it has with Actuarial Society of India.