Shriram Life Insurance, a private sector company that focuses on rural markets, expects yearly growth of 15-20%.

"For the next several years, it is expected that the life insurance sector would increase by around 15%." So we expect to expand a little quicker than that — maybe 15% to 20% every year," said Casparus Kromhout, Shriram Life Insurance's Managing Director and CEO.

Despite the fact that the second wave of the Covid-19 outbreak has added to the economic uncertainty, Kromhout said the life insurance has been putting in place a number of measures to maintain its current channels. It's also focusing on new business models and innovation

Net Profit In 2020-21, the life insurer's net profit more than tripled, reaching 106 crores.

"Everyone had a rough first quarter of the previous fiscal year." However, we completed the year with a 25% increase in new business premiums," he told Business Line in an interview, noting that the pandemic touched a major portion of the company's client base, which is rural.

"We were really concerned when the first lockdown occurred last year since both the medical issue and the lack of money had an impact on our consumer base." We anticipated that the firm would suffer significantly, with clients unable to pay premiums or get insurance. We were able to return in the second part of the year, which was fortunate," he remarked.

The rural category accounted for approximately 47% of new business and 54% of claims in 2020-21.

Its average premium size is roughly 17,400, compared to 50,000 for the industry.

In the second wave of the pandemic, rural regions have been particularly hard hit, he added, adding that Covid-related claims have increased in April and May of this year. He did say, though, that the corporation is well-prepared to deal with the increasing number of claims.