Two New Standalone Health Insurers in India

In this iPMI Global regional country guides article, iPMI report author and market analyst Ian Youngman, takes a look at news out of India, about 2 new stand alone health insurance companies.

News

• As the premium for health insurance in India is expected to reach one trillion Rupees (12000 million USD) this year, two new health insurers have entered the market.
• Indian regulator IRDAI has granted licences to Galaxy Health and Allied Insurance Company and Narayana Health, to carry out health insurance business in India.
• With this, the number of specialist insurers operating in the health insurance segment has gone up to seven.
• Both new insurers come with massive backing.
• With the robust growth witnessed in health insurance, several other players including Apollo Hospital, which had earlier exited the business earlier, are exploring the possibility of setting up health insurance companies to capitalise on this burgeoning market.

The new players

• Galaxy Health and Allied Insurance Company was set up by the industrial conglomerate TVS Group and Venkatasamy Jagannathan who founded the standalone insurer Star Health and Allied Insurance Company, in 2006.
• TVS Group is the majority shareholder in the joint venture that has an initial capital USD24 million.
  Narayana Health Insurance (Narayana One Health), was set up by Bangalore-based multispecialty hospital chain Narayana Health promoted by well-known cardiologist Devi Shetty.

The other five

Niva Bupa Health

• After a recent share buy Niva Bupa has moved from an associate business to a full subsidiary that now becomes part of Bupa Global.

Manipal Cigna

• Cigna owns 49% of ManipalCigna Health Insurance Company that offers a range of corporate and individual IPMI, PMI, health cash, travel, critical illness and accident insurances plus health and wellness programmes. It has a million customers.

Aditya Birla Health

• Momentum Metropolitan and Aditya Birla Financial Services Group have a health insurance joint venture in India based in Mumbai.
• AV Birla has a 46 % stake while MM own 44% and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) own 10% in Aditya Birla Health Insurance Co Ltd (ABHICL).
• Aditya Birla Health Insurance offers products including PMI and IPMI.

Care Health

• Once called Religare Health this is owned by the Religare group.

Star Health

• Star Health was India’s first stand-alone health insurer and the largest private health insurer. It is owned by Venkatasamy Jagannathan

Analysis

• The insurance industry in India is the fastest growing segment in the non-life insurance sector.
• The health insurance sector has been growing annually at the rate of over 20%.
• The potential is high as India is one of the fastest growing countries.
• India's retail health insurance segment has the potential to become a $25bn market in the next five years according to a 2023 research study.
• The health insurance industry is at an embryonic stage, with roughly 25% of the population covered. There exists a huge potential for growth and penetration of health insurance to a larger population.
• Local health insurers mainly offer PMI but already have been venturing into IPMI.

About the Author

Ian Youngman is an independent writer and researcher specialising in insurance. He writes regularly for a variety of magazines, newsletters, and on-line services. He publishes a range of market reports, and undertakes research for companies. To read his latest report, International Health Insurance 2023, please click here, or visit the REPORTS section of iPMI Global.