IRDAI chief estimates at most 15 per cent have effective insurance cover

Ajay Seth, Chairman of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI), estimated on 15 October 2026 that at most 15 per cent of India’s population and businesses have effective insurance cover, and said that doubling the share to at least 30 per cent was perhaps possible in five years, according to an ANI report published by The Tribune.

Seth was speaking in a discussion with financial educator and author Monika Halan at the SamvAAd 2026 India Open Finance Summit in Mumbai, ANI reported. The organiser, Sahamati, lists the session on its agenda as a plenary fireside chat between Seth and Halan; it has not published a record of his remarks. Seth described the 15 per cent figure as his best estimate, the ANI report said, because the industry does not measure actual coverage.

A data gap the regulator names

Seth said the industry currently tracks the number of policies and the premium collected each year, but does not track the number of lives covered or the total sum insured, according to the report. The report did not mention any new reporting requirement.

To widen cover, according to ANI, he pointed to digital insurance services made more affordable, products designed around the needs of individuals and small businesses, and the Account Aggregator framework, which the report said could let insurers use financial information with customer consent and reduce the cost of providing services. Referring to the Unified Payments Interface, he said the sector needed to create similar demand for digital insurance. Agents and intermediaries would keep an advisory role, particularly for customers choosing between products, and digital platforms were needed to reach beyond higher-income groups and into smaller cities, the report said.

Distribution reforms and the insurance registry

Business Standard reported on the same day that Seth said IRDAI’s consultation paper on distribution aims at an orderly transition to a more efficient system without disrupting existing business models, and that concerns about lost livelihoods were misplaced. The Insurance Brokers Association of India has estimated nearly 1 million job losses and a 60 to 70 per cent revenue loss for distributors, the newspaper reported, attributing that estimate to the brokers’ body.

The same report said the beta stage of the Public Insurance Registry is due by January 2028, with the Insurance Information Bureau to become a not-for-profit company and host it. According to Business Standard, Seth said Account Aggregators could play an important role in insurance product suitability and underwriting, and that Bima Sugam, the Account Aggregator system and the registry would play complementary roles. He said uses such as lending against policy surrender value and premium financing need further development, standardised data and commercially viable models.

Our reading

• The Healthcare Daily’s reading: when the regulator’s chairman says lives covered and sum insured are not tracked, premium growth figures, including those for health insurance, say little about how many people are protected or by how much. Coverage metrics could become a focus, though neither report mentions any change.
• Consent-based use of financial data through Account Aggregators could change how retail and small-business health products are underwritten and priced. Seth framed these uses as still needing development, so insurers and TPAs should treat them as a medium-term option rather than an imminent rule.
• For distributors, including those selling health cover, the chairman’s assurance of an orderly transition does not settle the timetable or the final commission rules, which remain under consultation.