How technology is reinventing the way India buys insurance

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 3.76% in FY20, with life insurance penetration at 2.82% and non-life insurance penetration at 0.94%. In terms of insurance density, India’s overall density stood at US$ 78 in FY20. 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 FY21 (until March 2021), premium from new business of life insurance companies in India stood at US$ 31.9 billion. In India, gross premiums written of non-life insurers reached US$ 26.52 billion in FY21 (between April 2020 and March 2021), from US$ 26.49 billion in FY20 (between April 2019 and March 2020), driven by strong growth from general insurance companies. 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. With this, the discussion touched upon the below: 1. The changing face of the Indian insurance industry in this decade, primarily from the angle of rise of digital, the customer archetypes, business model development and the evolving value chain. 2. India is a vast country with varied cultures and choices for products and services. And from a customer’s perspective, the key reasons for insurance purchase in India are tax incentives and compliance mandates. So how can this be addressed with the evolution of technology in the days to come. 3. Can we say “Embracing technology is as an enabler rather than a disruptor, especially when seen from the context of the new age Indian buyers of insurance products. 4. How the insurance regulator can ease the Indian insurance buying bahaviour. Speaker Bio: KV Dipu is the President & Head of Operations and Customer Service at Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Company. He spearheads the digital transformation drive at Bajaj Allianz GIC, leveraging start-ups from fintech/insurtech globally, while leading a team of more than 1000 people in 220 locations. He is a management graduate from the Indian Institute of Management Lucknow (IIM Lucknow), and he joined Bajaj Allianz GIC in 2016 after a stellar career of nearly 20 years with GE Capital.