Tajinder Mukherjee shows 'the way forward for Indian insurance industry'
KOLKATA: A special interactive session was held at Merchants' Chamber of Commerce & Industry on "Way forward for Insurance Industry in India" with National Insurance Co Ltd Chairman and Managing Director Tajinder Mukherjee. At the session, it was discussed that the Indian Insurance industry is expected to grow to 280 billion by 2019-20, which is being aided by the Centre's "Ayushman Bharat" health insurance scheme, and also other growth drivers like rising disposable incomes, presence of global players and easing of the regulatory regime.
"Overall insurance penetration in India reached 3.69 percent in 2017 from 2.71 percent in 2001. Gross premiums written in India reached Rs. 5.53 trillion in the financial year 2018, with Rs 4.58 trillion from life insurance and Rs. 1.51 trillion from non-life insurance. Over FY12-18, premium from new business of life insdurance companies in India have increased at a 14.44 percent to reach Rs. 1.94 trillion and non-life insurance premiums have increased by 16.65 percent", said Mukherjee.
Today, there are 24 life insurance and 33 non-life insurance companies in the Indian market who compete on price and services to attract customers. The industry has been spurred by product innovation, vibrant distribution channels coupled with targeted publicity and promotional campaigns by the insurers. The market share of private sector companies in the non-life insurance market rose from 13.12 percent to 50.01 percent in 2018.
"Crop insurance is another area which can take the industry forward. Over 9 million farmers have been benefitted from the "Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana". To provide crop insurance to the farmers, the Government of India has launched various schemes like National Agriculture Insurance Scheme, Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme and the government aims at enhancing crop insurance cover from around 22-23 percent of farmers to around 50 percent in the coming 2-3 years", she added.
The role of technology was also discussed in the session, about shaping the future of the insurance industry. Technology advances are transforming different industries at an ever increasing pace and the insurance industry will not be isolated.
These advances will be a lot more potent as they will have widespread applications across different aspects of the insurance business including sales, underwriting, claims and customer services.
By leveraging analytics and advances in technology and digital infrastructure, direct digital interactions and marketing to the customers will become highly personalised, more engaging and automated using natural language processing.
The non-life insurance sector too, will have a major role to play in the possible future growth of the Insurance industry. In the short term, increasing life expectancy, favourable savings and greater employment in the private sector is expected to fuel demand for pension plans. A strong growth in the automotive industry over the next decade would be a key driver for the motor insurance market. Thus, the insurance sector will be a strong contributor to India's growth story in the near future.
