Iran insurance industry earned 1.28 billion U.S. dollars from premiums during the first six months (March 21-Sept. 20) of the current Iranian fiscal year, Egtesadonline news website reported on Saturday.

The figure shows a growth of 25.4 percent compared with the same period last year.

The Iran Insurance Company, the only state-owned insurer, owned one-third of the earnings and the rest belonged to private insurance companies.

"We're trying to increase the share of private insurance firms because we believe in promoting private enterprises," Gholamreza Soleimani Amiri, the head of Central Insurance of Iran was quoted as saying.