Kamal Ghorui
Mumbai: Niva Bupa Health Insurance reported an 89.3% rise in Q4FY26 net profit under IFRS accounting standards, Rs 157.8 crore from Rs 83.4 crore a year earlier, while gross written premium grew 30.4% to Rs 3,123.4 crore.The improvement was aided by lower operating costs, higher investment income, stronger retail health premium growth and improving underwriting metrics.The insurer said the improved profitability reflected greater efficiency as the combined insurance service ratio improved. The combined insurance service ratio (claims and expenses to total premium) improved to 97.4% from 102% a year earlier. This was despite the ratio of claims to premium increasing to 94.5% from 93.2% a year earlier.“The improvement in combined ratio was entirely driven by reduction in expense ratio to the tune of 270 basis points from 39.2% in FY25 to 36.5% in FY26,” said Vishwanath Mahendra, chief financial officer of Niva Bupa Health Insurance. He added that this was driven by economies of scale and investments made in technology, analytics and artificial intelligence.The company had automated large parts of its operations, with all new policies sourced through digital channels such as apps and websites and 32.1% of cashless claims now being auto-adjudicated.Retail health remained the main growth driver. Retail health gross written premium rose 35% in FY26 to Rs 6,581.5 crore, while retail market share expanded to 10.1% from 9.4% in FY25. In Q4FY26, retail health market share rose to 10.4% from 9% a year earlier.According to Mahendra, there was a clear link between affordability and growth in health insurance, as seen in the surge in sales following the removal of GST on health insurance. According to him, while medical inflation was a reality, the trick was in the design of products to cater to different segments.“The same product can be customized for affluent customers in metros and in smaller centres where the cost of treatment is lower. We can have some riders, some product features where we can make the same product affordable by having deductible, by having co-insurance or limited network,” said Mahendra.For FY26, gross written premium grew 27.4% to Rs 9,432.9 crore from Rs 7,406.7 crore in FY25, while annual profit after tax under IFRS rose 80.4% to Rs 366.1 crore from Rs 202.9 crore. The combined ratio improved by 160 basis points to 101.4%, while return on average net worth increased to 10.7% from 7.4%.Investment income also supported earnings growth. Total investment income increased to Rs 613.1 crore in FY26 from Rs 475.8 crore in FY25, aided by growth in assets under management over the last few years.
