Despite the impact of Coronavirus (COVID-19), health insurance in India is projected to grow by 10% in 2020, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

Increase in consumer awareness due to the pandemic is expected to boost retail sales of health insurance products in India. The health insurance market growth contrasts the trend in the overall general insurance market in India which is expected to decline by 9% in 2020 due to the economic impact of COVID-19.

Jeneshree Sahoo, Insurance Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “The coronavirus pandemic has driven demand for health insurance, in an otherwise under-penetrated insurance market. With the growing number of coronavirus cases in India, people have understood the importance of owning a health insurance product.”

The regulator is also encouraging insurers to launch short-term COVID-19 products which are seeing huge demand from consumers. For instance, Star health, ICICI Lombard, and Edelweiss General Insurance are offering low-cost health insurance policies covering COVID-19 diagnosis and treatment cost.

The recent regulatory stipulations on product standardization are also expected to help the health insurance industry. From 10 July 2020, insurers are mandated to offer standard indemnity policies that directly benefit the vulnerable customer segments such as healthcare workers.

All the above factors are expected to support the health insurance market in India which is projected to grow by 10% to be valued at INR576.0 billion in 2020. This positive growth in Health insurance sales can also be confirmed with sales number reported by Policybazaar, leading online insurance marketplaces, which quoted 30% jump in health policies sales for March 2020 compared to January-February 2020.

Jeneshree concludes: “The pandemic led to a short-term increase in demand for health insurance in India. The ensuing insurers’ initiatives to launch need-based products, growing consumer awareness, and the use of tech-based distribution solutions is expected to continue the growth trend over the forecast period.”