Summary of this article
Individual agents, the largest distribution channel for life insurance: IRDAI Annual Report FY25
Corporate Agents: The second-largest life insurance distribution channel
Direct Sales Channel saw a gradual rise
Individual agents continued to be the largest distribution channel for individual life insurance new business in FY25, even as their share edged down marginally. According to the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) Annual Report 2024-25, individual agents accounted for 49.44 per cent of the individual new business premium during the year, compared with 50.90 per cent, a year ago in 2023-24.
The public sector showed a greater reliance on individual agents for new business. Public sector life insurers sourced a massive 93.86 per cent of their individual new business premium through individual agents in FY 2025. However, individual agents contributed 22.80 per cent of the individual new business premium of private life insurers, reflecting a far more diversified distribution mix in the private life insurance sector.
Corporate Agents: The second-largest life insurance distribution channel
Corporate agents remained the second-largest distribution channel for individual new business. As per the Annual Report, their overall contribution saw a marginal increase from 35.05 per cent in FY 2024 to 34.69 per cent in FY 2025. The role of corporate agents was especially significant for private life insurers, where they accounted for 52.97 per cent of individual new business premiums in 2024-25, according to the report. It was, however, lower than the 55.12 per cent recorded in 2023-24. For public sector insurers, the share of corporate agents increased modestly, rising from 2.96 per cent in 2023-24 to 4.20 per cent in FY25.
Direct Sales Channel saw a gradual rise
The share of insurers’ direct sales channels showed a gradual increase. Direct sales accounted for 10.68 per cent of individual new business premium in FY25, up from 9.91 per cent a year earlier, according to the IRDAI Annual Report 2024-25. Within this, private life insurers sourced 17.09 per cent of their individual new business premium through direct selling. No individual new business was attributed to direct sales by public sector insurers during FY25.
Other channels continued to play a relatively small role. The brokers’ channel contributed 3.72 per cent of individual new business premium in FY25, compared with 3.06 per cent in 2023-24. Online sales also saw a marginal rise, with their share increasing to 0.87 per cent from 0.65 per cent in the previous year.
Alternative distribution channels, including Micro Insurance agents, Common Service Centres, Web Aggregators, Insurance Marketing Firms, and Point of Sales persons, together accounted for 0.60 per cent of individual new business premium in FY25, up from 0.42 per cent in 2023-24, as per the IRDAI Annual Report 2024-25.
