Health insurance share rises to 41% of non-life industry in FY26

Health insurance continued to strengthen its lead within India’s non-life insurance sector in FY26, with its market share rising to 40.8% from 38.6% in the previous year, as per a report by The Times of India. Premium collections in the health segment increased 15.4% to around Rs 1.4 lakh crore, surpassing the overall non-life industry growth of 9.3%. Total gross direct premium income for the industry stood at nearly Rs 3.4 lakh crore during the year.

Standalone health insurers contributed 32.7% of the total health insurance premium, underwriting Rs 44,863.7 crore out of the industry’s overall health premium of Rs 1,37,144.5 crore. New India Assurance led the health segment with premiums of Rs 21,531.5 crore and a 15.7% market share. It was followed by Star Health & Allied Insurance at Rs 18,435 crore with a 13.4% share. Care Health Insurance reported premiums of Rs 9,768.4 crore (7.1%), while ICICI Lombard and Niva Bupa Health Insurance recorded Rs 8,617.3 crore (6.3%) and Rs 8,479.7 crore (6.2%), respectively. Standalone health insurers also outpaced the wider 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%.


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%.

(With inputs from TOI)