Indian Insurance Industry Overview & Market

 The insurance industry of India has 57 insurance companies 24 are in the life insurance business, while 34 are non-life insurers. Among the life insurers, Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) is the sole public sector company. There are six public sector insurers in the non-life insurance segment. In addition to these, there is a sole national re-insurer, namely General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC Re). Other stakeholders in the Indian Insurance market include agents (individual and corporate), brokers, surveyors and third-party administrators servicing health insurance claims.

Market Size

In India, the overall market size of the insurance sector is expected to US$ 280 billion in 2020.

The life insurance industry is expected to increase at a CAGR of 5.3% between 2019 and 2023. India’s insurance penetration was pegged at 4.2% in FY21, with life insurance penetration at 3.2% and non-life insurance penetration at 1.0%. In terms of insurance density, India’s overall density stood at US$ 78 in FY21.

In the first half of FY22, the life insurance industry recorded growth rate of 5.8% compared with 0.8% in the same period last year.

In September 2021, new premiums of life insurers registered 22.2% growth in September 2021, up from 2.9% in September 2020.

Between April 2021 and September 2021, gross premiums written off by non-life insurers reached Rs. 108,705.3 crore (US$ 14.47 billion), an increase of 12.8% over the same period in FY21. In October 2021, total premium earned by the non-life insurance segment stood at Rs. 17,679.98 crore (US$ 2.38 billion), as compared to the Rs. 15,906.71 crore (US$ 2.14 billion) recorded in October 2020.

The market share of private sector companies in the general and health insurance market increased from 47.97% in FY19 to 48.03% in FY20. In the life insurance segment, private players held a market share of 33.78% in premium underwritten services in FY20.

In FY22*, premiums from new businesses of life insurance companies in India stood at US$ 20.7 billion and renewable premium stood at US$ 53.7 billion.

In July 2021, non-life insurance premium stood at Rs. 20,171 crore (US$ 2.71 billion), an increase of 19.5% YoY, as compared with Rs. 16,885 crore (US$ 2.26 billion) in July 2020. The growth was driven by strong performance from health and motor segments.

In July 2021, standalone private health issuers registered a premium growth of Rs. 1,753 crore (US$ 235.11 million), an increase of 27.5% YoY.

The gross direct premium income for the general insurance industry in India stood at Rs. 1,087 billion (US$ 14.62 billion) in FY22 (until September 2021), an increase of 12.3% YoY, due to 28.8% growth in the health segment and an 84.7% growth in the personal accident segment.

Six standalone private sector health insurance companies registered a jump of 66.6% in their gross premium at Rs 1,406.64 crore (US$ 191.84 million) in May 2021, as against Rs. 844.13 crore (US$ 115.12 million) earlier.

In March 2021, health insurance companies in the non-life insurance sector increased by 41%, driven by rising demand for health insurance products amid COVID-19 surge.

In July 2021, non-life insurers’ premium, which include general, standalone and specialised public-sector, recorded 19.46% YoY growth and reached Rs. 20,171.15 crore (US$ 2.71 billion) against Rs. 16,885 crore (US$ 2.27 billion) in the same month last year.

According to S&P Global Market Intelligence data, India is the second-largest insurance technology market in Asia-Pacific, accounting for 35% of the US$ 3.66 billion insurtech-focused venture investments made in the country.

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