Bangalore: Group Insurance business is booming, while that of Individual Insurance is slowing down, reports Shruti Verma Khare of MyDigitalFC.com. This pattern in insurance categories has been observed over the last 8 months.

In Group Insurance, members of a particular group or faction are eligible for receiving all benefits of the insurance policy in concern. Health insurance policy for the employees of an organization is an apt example of Group Insurance. Individual Insurance applies only to one person and benefits and risks differ from those of Group Insurance. Group Insurance has the upper hand when compared to Individual Insurance because of many reasons. A few advantages of Group Insurance are – premium paid by all members seeking Group Insurance is same, regardless of various factors and people seeking Group Insurance can renew or purchase their insurance policies as long as they remain members of the concerned group. This feature is not available in Individual Insurance, where the insurance company has the right to restrict a person’s purchase or renewal of insurance.

Group Insurance generated a premium of 29,466.01 crore, with an increase of 16 percent during April to November, 2011. The premium generated in 2010 was 25386.66 crore in the same period as mentioned. Organizations benefiting from Group Insurance include - Reliance Life Insurance, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, IndiaFirst Life Insurance and Canara HSBC OBC Life Insurance.

Private insurance firms and Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), both, registered an escalation in the sales of Group Insurance. LIC gathered a premium of 24,567 crore, with an increase of 11.9 percent in the category of Group Insurance during April to November, 2011. The premium collected by LIC during April to November, 2010 was 21, 631 crore. Private insurance firms registered a whopping 30 percent increase in premiums collected, with 3,754 crore in 2010 growing to 4,898 crore in 2011. Individual Insurance, however, has not been so fortunate. This sector has registered a negative growth in the past 8 months. It has dropped by more than 36 percent in the premium collected during the stipulated period. It generated a premium of only 32,962 crore in 2011, when compared to 51,603 crore in 2010.