Vol-2 Issue-2 2016 IJARIIE-ISSN(O)-2395-4396 1980 www.ijariie.com 1513 A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF PUBLIC & PRIVATE LIFE INSURANCE COMPANIES IN INDIA Dr. Sunita Srivastava 1 Om Prakash 2 1. Assistant Professor, Department of Commerce, University of Lucknow, 2. Research Scholar, Department of Commerce, University of Lucknow, ABSTRACT Since 1991, Indian economy and industry has moved away from a state controlled to a competitive market with intrigate financial services to the global economy. The financial sector, particularly, the Insurance has opened up to all competiton. A revamp in tightly regulated and monopolised insurance sector was brought about by the passage of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority Act (IRDA) in 1999. The present paper ana lyses the performance of public and private life insurance companies in India. As per the total premium income, in FY 201 4-15, LIC with 73% of business share still holds a significant market share. 24 private insurance companies have established footholds in the market leading to intense competition. Private Insurance companies have a higher growth rate as compared to public sector. Today, Insurance penetration is better. The Insurance companies are competing in terms of policies sold, collection of premium income and others. Keywords : Life Insurance, Life insurance companies, Fresh life insurance premium, New insurance policies, Total insurance premium. INTRODUCTION Life Insurance is a professional service which is characterized by high involvement of the consumers, due to the importance of tailoring specific need, the variability of the products available, the complexity involved in the policies and processes and ultimately the need to involve the consumer in every aspect of the transaction. Life insurance more fondly known as Life Assurance has, in recent times ceased to be only a „Protection‟ or 'Legacy' for the family and has turned into an important investment outlet. India‟s economic development made it a most lucrative Insurance market in the world. Before the year 1999, there was monopoly state run Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) transacting life business. Today, there are 24 private life insurance companies operating insurance business in India. The competition from these companies were threatening to the existence of LIC. Since the liberalization of the industry the insurance industry has never looked back and today stand as the one of the most competitive and exploring industry in India. In this paper, an attempt is made to analyse the performance of public and private life insurance companies in India. REVIEW OF LITERATURE A thriving insurance sector is of vital importance to every modern economy. It encourages the savings habit, it also provides a safety net to rural and urban enterprises and productive individuals, most importantly it generates long-term invest-able funds for infrastructure building. The nature of the insurance business is such that the cash inflow of insurance companies is constant while the payout is deferred and contingency related (Kumar, 2010). During middle of 20th Century life insurance companies started to operate the evil play natural to all business had its sway. Number of competitors were entered and abolished while profiteering. On 1 st September 1956,