Swiss Re expects life insurance premiums to rise by 3.4 percent in calendar year 2025 and then by 3.5 percent in the year 2026 | Photo credit: iStockphoto
China’s insurance market is expected to grow by about 4 percent and the U.S. insurance market by 2 percent over the same period.
In a report on India’s economic and insurance market prospects, the Zurich-based reinsurer, one of the world’s largest, said the country’s insurance sector is poised for steady growth through 2026 and beyond, supported by mutually supportive economic, regulatory and demographic factors.
“The recent regulatory reforms such as increasing the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) limit to 100 percent, allowing mergers of non-life and life insurance companies, and reducing new capital fund requirements for foreign reinsurance verticals in India would be the driving force behind growth over the next five years,” said Mahesh Puttaiah, Head – Insurance Market Analysis, Swiss Re Institute. business line.
Swiss Re expects life insurance premiums to rise by 3.4 percent in the calendar year 2025 and then by 3.5 percent in the year 2026. Over the longer period, i.e. between 2026 and 2030, the company expects premiums to rise by 6.8 percent.
GST reform
The recent GST reform exempting individual life insurance premiums should improve the affordability of term, savings and unit-linked products, while insurance companies’ shift to pricier offerings and larger ticket sizes will support margins.
For the non-life insurance segment, premiums are expected to increase by 2.2 percent in fiscal year 2025 and then by 4.1 percent in the year 2026. And between 2026 and 2030, the reinsurance company expects this segment to grow by 7.3 percent. These expected growth rates are all in real terms, adjusted for inflation.
“There are a number of factors that we expect will drive this overall growth. First and foremost is the strong economy. We expect the economy to be resilient. This economic growth and economic development is one of the key drivers of the insurance sector in any economy,” Puttaiah said, adding that there is a growing or expanding risk awareness in India, especially post-COVID.
“And most importantly, the regulatory support that the country has received thanks to insurance regulator IRDAI, which has introduced a number of regulatory reforms that we expect will really boost growth. One of them is the Insurance for All by 2047,” he added.
On whether the country’s insurance sector has room for more players, given the experience of the developed economies, Amitabha Ray, market head, Swiss Re India, said: “It is a free market, and if an investor looks at the Indian growth story and also the target of Insurance for all by 2047 and all the policy changes designed to achieve that target, I think foreign players will do their calculations and set their strategies… people will do their assessment and then take that decision. But it all points towards the direction that this is useful.”
The country needs the capacity to develop, and all investments needed must be covered by insurance. “Exposure to natural disasters is increasing, with over $26 trillion worth of properties exposed to all kinds of hazards, so there is opportunity here for everyone and I’m pretty confident people will evaluate and find this space for themselves,” Ray added.
India’s natural disaster losses in 2024 were caused by multiple cyclones and extreme monsoon patterns. Although rainfall was generally above average, the 2024 monsoon season brought the highest levels of ‘very heavy’ and ‘extremely heavy’ rainfall in the past five years.
Published on January 19, 2026
#Indian #insurance #market #expected #grow #China #Swiss