History
The Oriental Life Insurance Company, the first corporate entity in India offering life insurance coverage, was established in Calcutta
in 1818 by Bipin Behari Dasgupta and others. Europeans in India were its primary target market, and it charged Indians heftier premiums. The Bombay Mutual Life Assurance Society, formed in 1870, was the first native insurance provider. Other insurance companies established in the pre-independence era included
- Bharat Insurance Company (1896)
- United India (1906)
- National Indian (1906)
- National Insurance (1906)
- Co-operative Assurance (1906)
- Hindustan Co-operatives (1907)
- Indian Mercantile
- General Assurance
- Swadeshi Life (later Bombay Life)
The first 150 years were marked mostly by turbulent economic conditions. It witnessed, India's First War of Independence, adverse effects of the World War I and World War II on the economy of India, and in between them the period of world wide economic crises triggered by the Great depression. The first half of the 20th century also saw a heightened struggle for India's independence. The aggregate effect of these events led to a high rate of bankruptcies and liquidation of life insurance companies in India. This had adversely affected the faith of the general public in the utility of obtaining life cover.
Read more about this topic: Life Insurance Corporation Of India
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