Insurers collect Rs 3.21bn from migrant workers

Life insurance companies mobilized over Rs 3bn in premiums from foreign employment term insurance in the fiscal year 2023/24.

Ten life insurance companies collected Rs 3.12bn during the review year, according to data compiled by the Nepal Insurance Authority (NIA). In the previous fiscal year, 2022/23, life insurance companies had collected Rs 3.21bn in premiums from foreign employment term insurance.

Existing laws require migrant workers to purchase a foreign employment term insurance policy before leaving for overseas job destinations. Currently, 10 out of 13 life insurance companies in the country sell foreign employment term insurance policies. More than 2m foreign employment term insurance policies sold by these companies are currently active.

Data compiled by the NIA shows that Sun Nepal Life Insurance Company collected Rs 843.04m by selling foreign employment term insurance policies in 2023/24. This represented 26.96 percent of the total premium collected from this policy. In the previous fiscal year, the company had collected Rs 1.08bn in premiums from foreign employment term insurance.

Nepal Life Insurance Company Ltd and IME Life Insurance Company Ltd followed with premium collections of Rs 620.8m and Rs 353.57m, respectively, in 2023/24. In 2022/23, Nepal Life and IME Life had collected Rs 475.05m and Rs 436.63m, respectively, in premiums from this policy.

These three companies enjoyed a market share of nearly 60 percent in this business in 2023/24.

Data shows Asian Life, National Life, and SuryaJyoti Life collected Rs 303.14m, Rs 270.11m, and Rs 250.08m in premiums from foreign employment term insurance policies in 2023/24.

Similarly, Sanima Reliance, Reliable Nepal, Citizen Life, and Prabhu Mahalaxmi Life mobilized Rs 205.61m, Rs 178m, Rs 100.5m, and Rs 25.6m, respectively.

A total of 741,297 Nepalis left for foreign employment in fiscal year 2023/24. Of them 353,163 left for foreign employment through institutional channels, according to the Department of Foreign Employment. 

Migrant workers sent Rs 1,327bn in remittances over the first 11 months of 2023/24, according to the Nepal Rastra Bank.