Kamal Ghorui
Mumbai : Health insurance is steadily increasing its dominance in India’s non-life insurance industry, with its share rising to 40.8% in FY26 from 38.6% a year earlier. Health as a segment grew 15.4% to about Rs 1.4 lakh crore, even as the non-life industry grew 9.3%, with total gross direct premium income reaching nearly Rs 3.4 lakh crore in FY26.Stand-alone health insurers accounted for 32.7% of the total health insurance premium, underwriting Rs 44,863.7 crore out of the industry’s total health premium of Rs 1,37,144.5 crore. The top five insurers in the health segment were New India Assurance with Rs 21,531.5 crore and 15.7% market share of health, followed by Star Health & Allied Insurance with Rs 18,435 crore and 13.4% share. Care Health Insurance followed with Rs 9,768.4 crore (7.1%), ICICI Lombard with Rs 8,617.3 crore (6.3%) and Niva Bupa Health Insurance with Rs 8,479.7 crore (6.2%). Standalone health insurers outperformed the broader industry with growth of 19.4%.The expansion in health insurance anchored the in-dustry’s performance, while other segments showed mixed trends. Motor insurance, the second-largest segment, saw its share remain largely unchanged at 32.2%, with premiums at about Rs 1.1 lakh crore and growth of 9.2%. Fire insurance increased its share to 8.2% from 7.9%, with premiums of Rs 27,523.8 crore and growth of 13.4%.
Segment Grows 15.4% To `1.4L Cr, Standalone Insurers Account For 33% Of Total Premium
Personal accident insurance recorded the fastest growth of 35%, raising its share to 3.5% from 2.8% with premiums of Rs 11,603.7 crore. Engineering grew 13.1% to Rs 6,801.5 crore with a 2% share, while liability remained stable at 1.8% with premiums of Rs 5,993.3 crore and growth of 9.6%.Marine insurance saw its share decline slightly to 1.7% from 1.8%, with premiums of Rs 5,819.5 crore and growth of 5.7%. Aviation premiums stood at Rs 1,089.3 crore, with a marginal contraction of 0.8% and a reduced share of 0.3% from 0.4%. The miscellaneous segment declined sharply by 17.6%, with its share dropping to 9.5% from 12.6% and premiums at Rs 31,931.1 crore.Among insurers overall, New India Assurance retained its leadership with a market share of 12.8%, up from 12.6%, and growth of 10.9%. ICICI Lombard held the second position with a share of 8.6% and growth of 7.0%. Bajaj Allianz followed with a 6.9% share and growth of 8.2%. United India Insurance reported a 6.4% share with growth of 6.7%, while Oriental Insurance rounded out the top five insurers with a 6.2% share and growth of 4.6%.
