Performance Appraisal of Life Insurance Companies in India: An All-Inclusive Analysis Using DEA

The article attempts to compute the efficiency of Life Insurance Companies operating in India in terms of technical, cost, revenue and profit efficiency for the period 2013-14 to 2021-22 by employing Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). The article also scrutinises the sector-wise efficiency scores of Life Insurers by comparing Public and Private Insurance Sector. The efficiency values demonstrate that Indian life insurers are not fully efficient. Canara HSBC, LIC, MaxLife and Shriram exhibit high efficiency with a score of 1 during all years in terms of all measures of efficiency. Maximum inefficiency subsists on the pure technical side leading to technical inefficiency and the cost side, which in turn leads to profit inefficiency. Inferior efficiency in Private Sector appears to have marred the overall efficiency values of Insurance industry in India. The study strongly recommends the private sector to follow suit with LIC, the most efficient company representing the whole public sector.