Chennai, Nov 13 (IANS): The 24-company Indian life insurance industry closed last month with new business of Rs 22,776.03 crore, up by 31.87 per cent over the previous year corresponding period.

However, the penetration levels has gone down as the number of policies issued during the period under review got reduced.

According the new business figures shared by Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI), last month the 24 life insurers underwrote a total fresh premium of Rs.22,776.03 crore up from Rs 17,271.86 crore earned during Oct, 2019.

The share of Asian life insurance giant Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) in the last month's total pie is Rs 15,548.06 crore up from Rs 11,422.15 crore earned during Oct 2019.

The 23 private life insurers earned a total new premium of Rs 7,227.96 crore last month, up from Rs 5,849.71 crore earned during Oct 2019.

According to IRDAI, the number of policies issued last month by the industry was 20,86,989 down from 22,36,610 issued during Oct 2019.