Insurance Amendment Act to boost growth, promote inclusion

It has been a quarter of a century since the insurance industry was liberalised. At the 'Business Standard BFSI Insight Summit, 2024', ALOK RUNGTA, managing director and chief executive officer (MD & CEO) of Future Generali India Life Insurance, SHARAD MATHUR, MD & CEO of Universal Sompo General Insurance, SUMIT BOHRA, president of IBAI and CEO of GlobeSecure Insurance Brokers, and MAYANK BATHWAL, CEO of Aditya Birla Health Insurance, discussed what is next for the industry. Edited excerpts:

What kind of changes are you seeing from the Insurance Amendment Act?

Rungta: So there are a lot of things which the industry is expecting and I think it is expecting across the board. One is 100 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) which people believe is going to be a growth-propeller in the way more and more participation of more insurers can be brought to the country. Even today in 25 years, there are only a handful of insurers in the country.

When you look at more developed nations, say for example the US and all, there are thousands of insurers. One of the drivers could be 100 per cent FDI where people want to come on their own. This is a long-term business, sometimes there are challenges on how many domestic participants you can get to participate in one industry. Today, still there is a requirement that at least a domestic player has to have a 26 per cent stake. I think that's a big one which the industry is expecting which will bring more competition, and I think competition always helps. Second, there is a lot of talk on this composite licence which is happening across the board. I think these two are the big ones.