According to a latest Boston Consulting Group (BCG) report, India’s general insurance industry recorded 9% y-o-y growth in Gross Direct Premium Income (GDPI) to ₹3.36 lakh crore in FY26.
While private insurers’ GDPI grew 10%, 8% growth was reported for public sector insurers. Gross Written Premium (GWP) increased by 10% to ₹3.44 lakh crore during the year, with private insurers, including standalone health insurers (SAHIs), continuing to drive market expansion.
For the industry’s underwriting metrics, the combined ratio increased by two percentage points to 113%, while profit after tax (PAT) fell 23% y-o-y to ₹10,000 crore and Return on Equity (ROE) declined to 6% from 9% a year earlier.
The fastest-growing segment turned out to be health insurance registering 17% growth for the full year after 10% growth in the first half, following GST rationalisation.
Motor insurance grew nearly 9%, while fire and crop insurance recorded more moderate growth. Insurers focused on pricing discipline in commercial renewals and calibrated crop discounting to meet Expense of Management (EOM) guidelines.
As per BCG, the trends indicate that the industry is increasingly prioritising sustainable pricing and underwriting discipline over volume-led growth.
For private insurers, their combined ratio remained broadly stable at 109% with an improvement of 0.4 percentage points. Their ROE remained close to 9%, declining by 56 basis points.
Large private insurers were among the strongest performers, combining 7% premium growth with a 2–3 percentage point improvement in both loss ratio and combined ratio. Their ROE increased to 15% from 14%, indicating that scale and underwriting discipline can coexist.
The industry’s overall capital and reinsurance position remained sound, according to the report. General insurers ceded slightly more than 31% of GDPI to reinsurers. Cessions were particularly high in Fire and Crop insurance, at 82% and 56%, respectively, implying the higher exposure of these segments to catastrophic and weather-related risks.