Lot of scope for insurance growth as Indian market underpenetrated: Swiss Re India CEO

India offers significant potential for growth for insurance companies, as the country is heavily underpenetrated, Swiss Re CEO Amitabha Ray said on Wednesday. The penetration with respect to Non-Life Insurance Industry remained same at 1 per cent during 2024-25 as in 2023-24, according to latest annual report of IRDAI.

India offers significant potential for growth for insurance companies, as the country is heavily underpenetrated, Swiss Re CEO Amitabha Ray said on Wednesday. ''So as long as capital flowing in and we have protection gap, the insurance market will continue grow in the country. To that extent, I see there is a lot of scope for the current market to expand and take more risks,'' he said while participating in one of the panel discussions during the Resilient Futures Summit organised by Economist Enterprise here. India is heavily underpenetrated market and as a result new insurance companies setting up their shops here, he said. In 2024-25, India's insurance penetration remained at 3.7 per cent as in 2023-24. The insurance penetration for the Life Insurance industry declined from 2.8 per cent in the previous year to 2.7 per cent during 2024-25. The penetration with respect to Non-Life Insurance Industry remained same at 1 per cent during 2024-25 as in 2023-24, according to latest annual report of IRDAI. With regard to insurance density, India showed a modest rise, increasing from USD 95 in 2023-24 to USD 97 in 2024-25, it said. Specifically, it said, life insurance density increased from USD 70 to USD 72, while non-life insurance density remained stable at USD 25. This upward trend in insurance density has been consistent since 2016-17. Insurance penetration and density are two metrics often used to assess the level of development of a country's insurance sector. While insurance penetration is measured as the percentage of insurance premiums to GDP, insurance density is calculated as the ratio of premiums to population (per capita premium). Participating in the discussion Zurich Insurance Head of resilience solutions (Asia-Pacific) Mark Fletcher said insurance premium in Asia including India is going down due to more competition. Capacity increase is driving down insurance premium in the region, he said.