Overview
According to the IRDAI Annual Report 2024–25, India's life insurance industry generated over ₹3.9 lakh crore in new business premiums, up about 5% year-on-year. But when buying term insurance, size alone is not enough. The insurer's scale, track record, claims experience, and long-term stability all play a crucial role in protecting your family's financial future.
In the next few minutes, this guide will walk you through the top 10 term insurance companies in India by annual business and explain how the rankings were calculated.
Top 10 Term Insurance Companies by Annual Business
Note: Annual business volume figures are based on the latest available data up to FY 2024–25 and sourced from the insurer’s public disclosures. Data for FY 2025–26 has not yet been fully released and is currently being compiled by insurers.
These figures represent each insurer's total new life insurance business across all product categories, including term insurance, endowment plans, Unit Linked Insurance Plans (ULIPs), annuities, and group insurance. Since term insurance typically accounts for only a small portion of an insurer's overall premium income, these numbers should be viewed as a measure of an insurer’s scale rather than of term insurance sales alone.
The Life Insurance Council also publishes monthly new business performance data. This allows users to track insurer performance and business trends on a month-by-month basis.
How We Ranked These Companies
Our ranking is based primarily on the insurer's annual business volume, which reflects the scale of new premiums generated during the year.
Here’s how we calculate the annual business:
- Add the total first-year premium and single premium for the financial year.
- Convert the resulting figure from lakh to crore.
- The final number represents the insurer's annual business volume used for term insurance comparison.
Note: At Ditto, we do not consider renewal premiums for this ranking because they reflect business generated in prior years. Instead, we focus on first-year premiums and single premiums, as these better capture an insurer's ability to attract new customers and generate fresh business today.
What Annual Business Tells You
- Operational Scale & Stability: Higher annual business volumes often indicate a larger and more established insurer. Scale can help improve operational efficiency, strengthen servicing capabilities, and support smoother claims management.
- Market Presence & Growth: Tracking annual business over time provides insight into whether an insurer is attracting new customers and expanding its footprint in the life insurance market. Consistent growth often reflects strong distribution and brand trust.
- Business Sustainability: A steady flow of new premium income supports healthy cash flows and business continuity. It can also indicate that the insurer remains relevant and competitive in acquiring new policyholders.
However, annual business volume should not be viewed as a direct indicator of claim approval, customer experience, or product quality. A claim is ultimately paid based on its validity and the insurer's claims process, not on the insurer’s size.
Similarly, insurers with comparable premium volumes can deliver very different service standards, turnaround times, and grievance resolution experiences.
Metrics That Matter More Than Size: CSR, ASR, and Complaints
How to Choose the Right Term Insurance Company for You
Evaluate Claims Metrics Altogether
Do not rely on a single metric when assessing an insurer. Instead, look at the complete picture, including CSR, ASR, complaint levels, claim handling reputation, and steady trends.
Review Long-Term Consistency
Focus on insurers that have delivered stable performance over multiple years. A consistent track record is often more meaningful than a single year of exceptional growth or unusually strong claims numbers.
Assess the Service Experience
Look beyond pricing and features. Consider the ease of buying the policy, the medical examination process, customer support quality, nominee assistance, and claim documentation support. For term insurance, both your purchase experience and family's claims process should be smooth.
Common Mistakes When Picking a Term Insurer
- Do not choose a term insurer solely because it offers the lowest premium. Pricing differences may arise from underwriting standards, product design, or feature limitations.
- Do not assume public-sector insurers are automatically safer or private insurers are automatically better. Both operate under the same IRDAI regulations and solvency requirements.
- Pay attention to the claim support infrastructure. Dedicated claims teams, nominee assistance, digital claim submission, and clear documentation processes can make a significant difference when your family needs to file a claim.
- Treating Claim Settlement Ratio (CSR) as the only decision-making metric without evaluating complaints, Amount Settlement Ratio (ASR), and solvency.
- Allowing brand recognition, advertising, or agent recommendations to outweigh objective claims data and product features.
- Overlooking exclusions, waiting periods, claim conditions, and policy definitions that can significantly impact payouts.
- Misrepresenting or omitting details about health, income, occupation, smoking habits, or lifestyle factors during the application process.
Once the insurer is chosen, mistakes can be made while selecting the correct plan as well. Some mistakes to avoid while buying a term insurance policy include purchasing unnecessary riders or choosing the wrong sum assured. To get an understanding, use our cover calculator to find an estimated term cover for you.
Why Choose Ditto for Term Insurance?
At Ditto, we’ve assisted over 8,00,000 customers with choosing the right insurance policy. Why customers like Aaron below love us:
- No-Spam & No Salesmen
- Rated 4.9/5 on Google Reviews by 24,000+ happy customers
- Backed by Zerodha
- Dedicated Claim Support Team
- 100% Free Consultation
You can book a FREE consultation. Slots are running out, so make sure you book a call or chat on WhatsApp now!
Conclusion
When choosing a term insurer, avoid focusing on a single metric. The ideal insurer combines strong scale, consistent claims performance, good customer experience, healthy solvency, and a reliable product portfolio.
Scale is not everything, but it does matter. A ₹5 crore claim is relatively small for an insurer that generates ₹10,000 crore or more in fresh annual business. For a much smaller insurer with only ₹100 crore in new business, the same claim represents a far larger obligation. Larger insurers often benefit from stronger financial resources, broader distribution, and more established claims infrastructure.
If you wish to explore some term plans from established term insurers, refer to our guide on the best term insurance plans in India in 2026.
Disclaimer
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