BANGALORE: According to the latest study performed by the global re-insurer Swiss Re on world insurance in 2013, India ranked 15th in terms of premium volume, reports Business Standard. This clearly shows that when compared to 2012, India lost this position of being in 14th position. The premiums written in the global insurance industry was 2.5 percent in 2012 and it grew by 1.4 percent in real terms to $4 641 billion in 2013. The reason behind the slowdown was mainly due to weakness in the life sector in the advanced markets.

Due to weak sales in North America and the advanced Asian markets offsetting a strong performance in Western Europe, Oceania and most emerging markets, the global life premiums were up just 0.7 percent in 2013. When growth slowed in the advanced and emerging markets, the non-life premiums grew by 2.3 percent, which is less than the previous year.

In Swiss Re’s sigma study, India’s life insurance penetration was 3.1 per cent, while in non-life insurance it was 0.8 per cent. A premium as a percentage of Gross Development Product is referred to as insurance penetration whereas insurance density refers to per capita premium or premium per person. The study also revealed that the insurance penetration in India fell to 3.9 percent in 2013 when compared to four percent in 2012. Also in terms of insurance density India stood at $52 when compared to $53 in 2012, thus in simple words both insurance penetration and density was low.