Insurers look for tax benefits, incentives

New Delhi, PTI: Insurers are seeking tax benefits for buyers and incentives for selling policies in their wishlist for the upcoming Union Budget as the country is projected to emerge as the G20's fastest-growing insurance market. In 2023-24, the country's insurance penetration was at 3.7% compared to 4% in 2022-23, according to the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai). The insurance penetration for the life insurance industry marginally declined to 2.8% during 2023- 24 from 3% in the preceding year.

The penetration with respect to the non-life insurance industry remained the same at 1% during 2023-24 as in 2022-23. India is expected to lead G20 with an average 7.3% premium growth over 2025- 29 and become the fastestgrowing insurance market among the elite grouping, a Swiss Re report released on Tuesday said. On expectations from the Budget, Neha Parikh, Vice President and Sector Head - Financial Sector Ratings at ICRA Ltd said that given the weak solvency position of the PSU general insurance companies, the announcement related to budgetary allocation for their recapitalisation will be positive. "Further, given the low penetration of the insurance segment, the government can announce measures to incentivise the penetration, especially for the lower ticket size policies," Parikh said.

Mayank Gupta, Cofounder and COO at Zopperthought that addressing the ailing insurance penetration problem by incentivising the industry participants to bring newto- insurance customers into their fold could be one such strategy to expedite the coverage of larger populations under insurance. "Allowing insurance companies greater flexibility in creating and distributing insurance plans by using technology and moving beyond traditional methods is also the need of the hour," he said.