new delhi indias insurance sector is likely to witness an unprecedented growth of over 200 by 201011 during which private insurance business would grow by 140 in view of aggressive marketing techniques adopted by them as against the 3540 growth rate of stateowned insurance companies according to a study by the associated chambers of commerce and industry of india assocham on insurance sector futuristic growththe chamber expects the total insurance business reaching a level of rs 200000 cr in the next two years from the current level of rs 50000 crore during the last couple of years the insurance sector has grown by a cagr of around 175 and the trend will emerge still better because of the potential factor the study sayschamber president sajjan jindal said on account of intense marketing strategies adopted by private insurance players the market share of stateowned insurance companies like gic lic and others have already come down to 70 in the last 45 years from over 97 and more intense competition is likely to be witnessed in the near futurethe private insurance players entry into the insurance sector is still restricted since india has yet to open it up liberally but even then their rate of return ror to their subscribers and policy holders is estimated at about 35 as against 20 of domestic insurance companies this factor is mainly responsible for hike in the private insurance market and might grow further exceeding even 140 secondly stateowned insurance companies have limited number of policies to offer to their subscribers while in case of private insurance companies their policy numbers are many more and the premium amount as well as the maturity period is much competitive as against those of government insurance companies interestingly said jindal the private sector insurance players have started exploring the rural markets in which until recently the stateowned companies had the monopoly the chamber has projected that in rural markets the share of private insurance players would increase substantially as these have been able to generate a faith among their rural consumers estimating the potential of the indian insurance market from the perspective of macroeconomic variables such as the ratio of premium to gdp the chamber says that indias life insurance premium as a percentage of gdp is 18 against 52 in the us 65 in the uk or 8 in south korea assocham findings further reveal that in the coming years the corporate segment as a whole will not be a big growth area for insurance companies this is because penetration is already good and companies receive good services in both volumes and profitability therefore the scope for expansion is modest the chamber has suggested that insurers strategy should be to stimulate demand in areas that are currently not served at all insurance companies mostly focus on manufacturing sector though the services sector is taking a large and growing share of indias gdp this offers immense opportunities for expansion opportunities to understand the prospects for insurance companies in