The biggest metamorphosis in Indian economic climate came in June 1991 with the wave of economic liberalization. The government of India recognized the need to address the introduction of liberalization in insurance industry as an important step for overall development of financial system of India. The boom in financial market and the reforms facilitated over the past decades in the life insurance industry has ignited the engine of economic growth in India. The de-monopolization of the industry and bringing new features into, it has been serving its primary objective of mobilization of savings with insuring lives well appropriately. Since then it has developed itself with various innovative and sectoral transformation as per the need of the hour. An appraisal of the industry reveals its developmental journey since liberalization by creating a supportive environment for pension, healthcare sector and extending social security net amongst all from the classes to the common masses. The liberalization has introduced foreign participants in the market which has induced competitive environment in the industry. The key reform initiation of 1991 has propelled the insurance sector that, today life insurance business of India has been ranked 10^th among the 88 countries. The present study is conducted to highlight the growth and performance of Indian life insurance sector by making comparative analysis of pre and post liberalization period. For the same, four indicators are used to drive conclusion based on statistical techniques.

Keywords: Liberalization, Total premium, Policies, Density, Penetration, Paired t-test.