Life Insurance Corporation of India lost more than 8 per cent market share after posting a marginal 1.93 per cent growth in business last fiscal, while private players grew by more than 153 per cent during 2003-04.

Despite the flat growth of market leader LIC, the life insurance industry as a whole grew by a modest 10.5 per cent to mop up Rs 18,710 crore (Rs 187.10 billion) in premium income for new businesses in 2003-04 as against Rs 15,977 crore (Rs 159.77 billion) in 2002-03.

LIC's market share in terms of premium collection came down to 87 per cent in March end 2004 from 94.34 per cent in 2002-03, according to data compiled by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority.

The state-owned insurer mopped up Rs 16,285 crore (Rs 162.85 billion) in premium from new businesses during 2003-04, which is marginally higher than Rs 15,977 crore (Rs 159.77 billion) in 2002-03.

LIC mopped up Rs 4,915 crore (Rs 49.15 billion) in March, which is more than one-fourth of its total premium income for the entire fiscal.

In contrast to LIC, private players grew by 153 per cent by mopping up an aggregate Rs 2,425 crore (Rs 24.25 billion) in premium last fiscal and cornered 12.96 per cent of the market.

The private players had only 5.66 per cent of the market pie in 2002-03.

ICICI Prudential led the chart for private players with a market share of 4 per cent followed by Birla Sunlife (2.4 per cent), HDFC Standard Life (1.12 per cent), SBI Life (1.05 per cent), Tata AIG and Allianz Bajaj (0.96 per cent each).

ICICI Prudential doubled its business to Rs 751 crore (Rs 7.51 billion) last fiscal from Rs 364 crore (Rs 3.64 billion) in 2002-03.

Birla Sunlife posted 247 per cent growth in premium income at Rs 450 crore (Rs 4.50 billion) last fiscal compared to Rs 202 crore (Rs 2.02 billion) in 2002-03.

HDFC Standard Life recorded a growth of 62 per cent to mop up Rs 209 crore (Rs 2.09 billion) in premium income last fiscal.

SBI Life grew by a robust 172 per cent by collecting Rs 196 crore (Rs 1.96 billion) in premium, most of which came from the group pension scheme.

Tata AIG recorded a business growth of 245 per cent at Rs 180 crore (Rs 1.80 billion) while Allianz Bajaj grew by 183 per cent to mop up Rs 179.70 crore (Rs 1.80 billion) in premium.

Max New York Life and OM Kotak were close to each other in terms of market share of about 0.7 per cent and a business of Rs 127-130 crore (Rs 1.27-1.30 billion).

The highest growth of 473 per cent was recorded by Aviva Life, which mopped up Rs 77 crore (Rs 770 million) in premium last fiscal.

Late entrants AMP Sanmar and ING Vysya also grew faster to come closer to their competitors.

In terms of number of policies sold, LIC was still far ahead of others with a market share of 94.21 per cent after bringing almost 2.7 crore (27 million) new lives under its insurance cover.

In contrast, the private players together insured 16.59 lakh (1.66 million) new lives during the last fiscal.

LIC's market share came down to 72.22 per cent in terms of the group insurance scheme, as private players like SBI Life, Tata AIG and Birla Sunlife were making aggressive inroads in this segment.