A brief history of the Indian life insurance industry

Life insurance with its unique features plays a very important role in the economy of a country by mobilizing the savings and making it available for investment. The formal nature of the Indian life insurance business has evolved over a long period of time. During this process of evolution, insurance business has been influenced by political/economic policies and the mood of the people. The objective of this paper is to outline the process of evolution and growth of the Indian life insurance industry from the early 19^th century when formal insurance businesses (both life and general insurance) were introduced by the British to today.