kolkata the life insurance industry has registered a 13 rise in firstpremium income during aprilseptember 2009 first premium income of life insurance players for the period stood at rs 39046 crore against rs 34599 crore in the previous corresponding period the industry sold 2 crore policies in the first half of the current fiscal a rise of 7 over 18 crore in the previous corresponding periodalthough in terms of cumulative firstpremium income the industry has registered growth the private sector has been seeing a decline however lic has been maintaining a positive growth the private players 21 in all registered a 1467 fall in first premium income of rs 13232 crore during the first half of 200910 against rs 15508 crore in the previous corresponding period in terms of the number of policies sold the private companies saw a 4 decline to 6066 lakh in the same period against 6333 lakh in the previous corresponding periodonly a handful of companies including tata aig sahara life and idbi fortis managed to clock positive growth in firstpremium income during this period while majority of the companies saw their firstpremium income declinelife insurance corporation however did well it achieved a 35 growth in firstpremium income for the period under review at rs 25814 crore against 19091 crore in the previous corresponding period interestingly it regained about 10 of its market share during the period the insurance behemoth now commands 66 of the market while the private players have about 34 on the number of policies sold an aggressive marketing policy saw lic register a 13 rise in number of policies sold during the period aprilseptember 2009 at 14 crore against 124 crore in the previous period