India's insurtech space poised for rapid growth

India's insurance market is massive at around $140 billion in 2022. Life insurance alone accounts for around $100 billion followed by health insurance at around $10 billion. Despite this, India is only 10th in terms of total insurance premiums despite being the fifth largest economy. The insurance sector will thus continue to outpace rest of the sectors in the future just due to sheer market growth potential.

In an exclusive interview with Bizz-Buzz, SanilBasutkar, Co-founder and Product & Marketing Head of HealthySure, shared some recent trends in the insurance sector. He explainedhow customer expectations are driving the insurtech industry. He said that the superior health insurance experience along with access to comprehensive healthcare services helps HealthySure stand out in the market.

What are the changing dynamics of the insurtech sector in terms of the services provided and the customer expectation?

For the insurance sector, customer expectations are fulfilled only atthe time of claims. Giving a richer claims experience naturallyprovides an organic push to adopt insurance through positive word ofmouth. There still seems to be a gap in the claims experience andadditional investments need to be made to improve technology andcreate a seamless claims experience. Insurance underwriting anddistribution are also improving to come up with new products and usecases specially around embedded insurance. The trend is shifting frommanufacturer led products to distribution led products being launchedin the market. The IRDAI sandbox has played a major part to experimentwith products that the market actually needs.

How are the reforms made by IRDAI helping the insurance sector to bring in seamless process?

Over the last year, specifically post the appointment of the new IRDAIchairman, the regulator has been very proactive to bring in reforms.Understanding the need to promote insurance penetration, the regulatoris planning to implement many reforms such as BIMA Sugam - aninsurance exchange, liberalizing licensing requirements for insurancecompanies, expanding the scope of existing distributors and opening upexperimentation through product sandboxes. The regulator seems to begoing all out to ensure the insurance potential of India is met.

How did the year look like for the insurance sector and what was Healthysure's contribution?

India's insurance market is massive at around $140 billion in 2022. Lifeinsurance alone accounts for around $100 billion followed by healthinsurance at around $10 billion. Despite this, India is only 10th interms of total insurance premiums despite being the fifth largesteconomy. The insurance sector will thus continue to outpace rest ofthe sectors in the future just due to sheer market growth potential.Healthysure has been at the forefront to promote insurance throughgroup insurance, mainly life and health. With the regulatorliberalizing the industry and given the growth potential, Healthysure aimsto be a big player in this growth through its technology and expertisein insurance.

What are the expectations from the coming year in terms of funding with insurtech witnessing strong momentum?

Due to the strong potential to drive additional insurance penetration,insurtech will continue to witness tailwinds in terms of investmentfunding. Indian insurtechs have raised around $2 billion in startupfunding from 2014 to 2022 along with multiple IPOs in the last fewyears. Insurtech is on the cusp of a breakout that fintech witnessedin the last few years and that has propelled India to be a globalleader in fintech. Investments would consequently follow. Indianinsurance industry is a great place to start up as there are manyproblems and inefficiencies that can be solved.