Reforms will grant greater insurance access: FM

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said the insurance reforms brought in through a bill in Parliament will grant greater access to insurance for the people, have better regulatory oversight and ensure ease of compliance. Moving the ‘The Sabka Bima Sabki Raksha (Amendment of Insurance Laws) Bill, 2025’ for consideration of the Lok Sabha, Sitharaman said the draft legislation was aimed at bringing transparency, ease of compliance mandates and increasing foreign direct investment (FDI) in the sector.

The Finister said that the FDI limit in the insurance sector was increased from 26 per cent to 49 per cent in 2015, 74 per cent in 2021 and now proposed to 100 per cent. “These have brought in a greater push for the insurance sector. The number of insurers has risen from 53 in 2014 to 74 now,” Sitharaman said. She said insurance penetration has improved from 3.3 per cent in 2014-15 to 3.8 per cent now and insurance density or the average insurance premium paid per person in a year has jumped from $55 in 2014 to $97 now.

The minister said the total insurance premium paid has risen from Rs4.15 lakh crore in 2014-15 to Rs11.93 lakh crore and assets under management increased from Rs24.2 lakh crore to Rs74.4 lakh crore. “We are now looking for greater penetration, better regulatory oversight, easier compliance and more FDI,” Sitharaman said. The minister said over the year, an ecosystem has developed in the country for providing greater access for people to insurance.

Sitharaman said that various Government schemes such as the PM Fasal Bima Yojana and the Jana Arogya Yojana have brought poor people under the insurance umbrella, a move that has helped immensely during the Covid pandemic. The minister said public sector insurance companies can meet the insurance requirements of the people of India and listing them on the stock markets has made the functioning of these firms transparent.