Awareness key to increasing insurance coverage in India, say experts

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI), along with the industry, has hardly left any stone unturned to make people aware about the need to have adequate insurance cover.

However it was the pandemic that set the wheels in motion, and now it's up to the insurance industry to keep the momentum around insurance awareness going, say experts.

As India celebrates National Insurance Awareness Day on June 28, CNBC-TV18 spoke to Bhargav Dasgupta, Chairman of FICCI committee on insurance; Ritesh Kumar, Co-Chair of FICCI committee on insurance; Prashant Tripathy, Co-Chair of FICCI committee on insurance; and Mayank Bathwal, Co-Chair of FICCI taskforce on health insurance, to discuss the road ahead for the insurance sector.

Tripathy said a lot of work needs to be done to increase awareness about necessity of insurance.

“To give impetus to insurance, the foremost thing is awareness. The overall awareness about what insurance is and how it serves, and why it is needed is something where there is lot of work that needs to be done.”

He added the insurance industry needs to focus on improving product category and distribution in order to reach smaller cities and villages in a more economical manner.

“Government schemes like Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana drive insurance penetration rather quickly, but bigger elements must come from life insurance in terms of what needs to be sold, how do we build our distribution so that we are able to reach out to smaller cities, villages in a more economical manner etc.”