Overall Trends
The General Insurance Industry in India has been witnessing continuous growth with a 2.5X times growth in Gross Direct Premium collection during the last seven years, i.e., from 2014 to 2020. Similar growth of 2.5X is there in Asset Under Management (AUM).
With a rise in private insurers, the share of public insurers has seen a de-growth from 55.8% in 2014 to 44.3% in 2020
No of Insurers and Branch Offices
The count of branch offices & the number of insurance companies also witnessed growth from 2014 to 2019 but tapered in 2020. With mergers of Apollo Munich with HDFC Ergo and Bharti AXA with ICICI Lombard, the count of companies came down from 36 to 34.
Business Line Wise Trends
If we compare the business line-wise growth for Apr-Oct 2020 with Apr-Oct 2021, Health Insurance has grown by 30%. Till last year Motor Insurance was the dominant business line. But business lines like Motor, Fire, Crop have mostly been sold as mandatory additions; consumer decisions play a minimal role here. E.g., motor insurance has seen a tapered growth due to low growth in the automobile segment.
Due to the onslaught of the recent pandemic, consumers have realized the importance of having a health policy, and thus we are witnessing a surge in health insurance numbers.
The surge in demand for health insurance also led to a change in the composition of business lines for Private Insurers. Earlier, the share of the motor was more for private players and vice-versa for public insurers; now, health is the largest business for private insurers.
Below is the graphical depiction of business line-wise change in share for the industry, private and public insurers from last year to this year.
General Insurer Players Ranking and Change of Ranks
While The New India Assurance continues with its market leadership, ICICI Lombard has moved to second position this year, taking over from United India. Three public players have witnessed a drop in rankings - United, National Insurance & IFFCO Tokio.
Following insurers have moved up in ranking by two or more positions - Go Digit (4), Bajaj / Star Health / Care / Niva Bupa / Aditya Birla / Magma HDI / Acko (by two places) mainly led by the surge in demand for health insurance/
India is still a sizeable underpenetrated insurance market with penetration of 0.97% as per international standards for general insurance. With the technological and digital advancements and the growing presence of direct-to-consumer brands, we should see a growth in consumer awareness for covering their risk for various assets.
Need of the hour is to move from a sales-oriented approach to a need-based process by increasing the awareness levels of end consumers by educating them so that consumers start seeing insurance as a tool to safeguard their risks rather than a sunk cost.