The insurance industry of India has grown immensely in last 2 decades and the credit goes to the 57 insurance companies which are trying their best to encourage Indians to buy different types of insurance policies. Out of these 53, 29 are non-life insurance companies are remaining 24 are life insurers. Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) is the leader in this industry with no one even close to competing.
Agents, brokers, surveyors and third-party administrators servicing health insurance claims have contributed a lot in growing these companies. Insurance companies pay lucrative commissions to workers in this profession.
The 33 non-life insurance companies include 5 private sector names- Apollo Munich Health Insurance Company Ltd, Star Health and Allied Insurance Company Ltd, Religare Health Insurance Company Ltd, Max Bupa Health Insurance Company Ltd, and Cigna TTK Health Insurance Company Ltd.
Market size of the Insurance industry in India
Indian Government has approved the increase Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) limit in Insurance sector from 26 percent to 49 percent. This will attract new companies to enter the Indian market and increase the competition.
India’s life insurance sector is the biggest in the world having 360 million policies. This is a promising number considering the amount illiterates in our country. Also, this number is increasing at a good rate every year. There has been a considerable shift in Indians from investing money in physical assets like gold and real estate towards financial assets.
Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) Chairman T.S. Vijayan revealed the numbers about the insurance industry and shared that it has seen 17 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) on premiums. He said that: “The Indian economy is also growing, but the growth rate of the insurance industry is higher.” According to him, the biggest challenge in not on the first sale but on the renewal of insurance policies.
Future predictions
The future of this industry looks very promising because of the reasons such as growing middle class, increasing awareness of Indians towards protection and retirement plans. The number of policies is predicted to increase by 12-15% over the next five years. The current total net worth of insurance sector is around $60 billion which is expected to grow 4 times in coming 10 years.
