India: Strong growth expected in non-life insurance sector
Source: Asia Insurance Review | Oct 2015
The Indian government’s commitment to infrastructure development as well as a INR3.0 trillion (US$47.7 billion) housing scheme, that is expected to result in the development of 20 million housing units, is set to spur growth in the property insurance sector at a CAGR of 17.5% during 2014-2018.
According to a report by Timetric’s Insurance Intelligence Centre, a favourable regulatory environment, increasing consumer awareness about the benefits of insurance and higher levels of infrastructure development are also expected to drive growth in the Indian non-life insurance sector during the forecast period.
The Indian non-life insurance market performed well in the 2010-2014 period, with gross written premiums registering a significant compounded average growth rate of 14.9%, the report noted.
However, the Indian non-life insurance segment is concentrated, with the top 10 companies accounting for 77.5% of the gross written premium in 2014. The leading four insurers operating in the non-life segment are government-owned, and accounted for 49.4% of the segment’s gross written premium in 2014. The remaining six are insurance joint ventures with foreign companies. They account for 28.2% of the segment’s gross written premium.