1.28 crore people covered under corona insurance policy
During the pandemic, the two corona specific policies, Corona Kavach and Corona Rakshak, were launched under the guidance of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai). And the insurers also introduced coverage against COVID-19.
Irdai Chairman Subhash Chandra Khuntia on Friday said that the number of active general insurance brokers is 482 in the country and their contribution to the business is 26%.About 1.28 crore lives have covered under the corona specific insurance polocies in the country and the premium collected over Rs 1,000 crore.
He said, “Under Corona Kavach policy, which was introduced during the pandemic, 42 lakh lives have been protected; while 5.36 lakh lives have been protected through the Corona Rakshak policy. From all corona specific policies, total 1.28 crore lives have been covered with a total premium of more than Rs 1,000 crore.
Khuntia, addressing the insurance brokers under the fold of IBAI, the Irdai chief said that there is a huge opportunity for the brokers and for the insurers in the country after the pandemic and it has made people realise the need to get insured.
Khuntia also said there should be more focus on tier-II, -III and -IV cities now as the growth will come from these areas.
The number of active brokers at present is 482 in the country and their contribution to general insurance business is about 26 percent. It has gone up from 22% in 2017-18 to 26% now. In health insurance their contribution is 23% and they have better contribution in the group of health insurance business at 36%; and in individual health business, the growth is only 4.3%.
He also added that there is opportunity for improvement. And in the case of life insurance their contribution is only 1.1 per cent, so they are mostly concentrated in the non life sector.
The Irdai chairman urged the brokers to focus on small business units that present huge growth opportunity.
IBAI President Sumit Bohra said that, In the past decade, the Indian non-life insurance company has really come into its own with over Rs 1.89 lakh crore placed in premium during 2019-20, registering a growth of 10.58 per cent on a year-on-year basis.
He said that the industry must further thrive and get to the next level of growth, it is imperative that insurance penetration grows to a level comparable to the more developed insurance markets.