General Insurance Council Newsletter

Chairman's message Secretary General Message Editor's Connect Insurance in news Insurance Laws & policy Consumer Awareness Global Highlights Contact Us

Chairman's Message

Mr Tapan Singhel

Welcome to the latest edition of the GI Council Newsletter! In this issue, we highlight the launch of the USD 1.5 billion Bharat Maritime Insurance Pool, backed by a sovereign guarantee of USD 1.4 billion/₹12,980 crores, ensuring continuous maritime coverage amid Middle East tensions. On the policy side, we feature perspectives on how customer experience in India’s private insurance sector has evolved over the past 25 years, alongside insights into the future of invisible service when AI anticipates customer needs. In the consumer awareness section, articles emphasize why travel insurance is essential even for short international trips and highlight the urgent need for hypertension insurance planning among young Indians. Globally, we explore how increasing civil unrest is impacting insurers across Asia, and how cuts in health insurance rebates are set to impact older Australians.

Hope you enjoy reading the newsletter!

Dr. Tapan Singhel, MD & CEO
Bajaj General Insurance Ltd.
Chairman, GI Council

Secretary General Message Kasturi Sen Gupta

Welcome to the June 2026 edition of the GI Council newsletter. In this edition, we have tried to cover as many diverse, topical and interesting articles as possible. Industry has grown at 8.7% over the period April-May 2026 as compared to the same period in the previous year. Health & Motor segments are the prime movers of growth with Health segment registering an impressive 18.5% growth (Rs. 27,263.44 crores as against Rs. 23,009.65 crores during April-May 2025-26). Motor OD & TP has risen by 13.8% (Rs. 17,523.05 crores as against Rs. 15,934.96 crores in April-May 2025-26). Health portfolio is the biggest contributor to the non-life insurance industry with a 45% market share followed by Motor at 28.9% market share. The downturn in Fire insurance business (which declined by 29.5% over the same corresponding period) needs to be analyzed in terms of declining fire rates, while there is an increase of 36% in Marine insurance (both cargo and hull). We have put a new editorial team in place and are also working on the design aspects of the newsletter. With your candid feedback we hope to make the newsletter more interactive and constantly evolving to meet the ever-changing times. With the monsoon season set to break in over the country, I can do no better than recall an anonymous quote: "Anyone who says that sunshine brings happiness has never danced in the rain"

Wishing you all a bountiful monsoon ahead and all-round abundance and prosperity.

Kasturi Sen Gupta
Secretary General
General Insurance Council

Editor's Connect Venkat

It gives me great pleasure to present the 24th edition of the GI Council Newsletter. This issue highlights the launch of the Bharat Maritime Insurance Pool (BMIP) by the Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance, along with a report on the BMIP Workshop held in Mumbai. We feature an interview with Dr. S. Prakash on efforts to establish standard treatment protocols in healthcare. Our Guest Column examines the evolution of customer experience in India’s insurance sector and the transformative role of artificial intelligence in anticipating customer needs. The Insurance Laws & Policy section covers IRDAI’s guidance on AI-driven cyber risks and the Sabka Bima, Sabki Suraksha framework. We also report on Samadhan Samaroh 2026, promote awareness of travel and health insurance, and review global developments affecting insurers. We hope you find this edition informative and engaging".

K N Venkataraman

DEEP DIVE
When you plunge the depths you come up with
Pearls of Wisdom
When you scratch the surface you end up in a Fool's Kingdom
@ven_keythoughts

Insurance in news

SETTING SAIL:- DFS Launches 'Bharat Maritime Insurance Pool’ of USD 1.5 billion, with a sovereign guarantee of USD 1.4 billion/₹12,980 crores to facilitate continuous maritime insurance coverages, in the background of current Middle East tensions

The Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance held an event chaired by Secretary, DFS on 12th May 2026 in New Delhi to launch the domestic insurance pool, namely 'Bharat Maritime Insurance Pool' (BMIP) of USD 1.5 billion today, with a sovereign guarantee of USD 1.4 billion/₹12,980 crores to facilitate continuous maritime insurance coverages. The pool covers all maritime risks such as Hull and Machinery, Cargo, P&I and War risk for Indian flagged or controlled vessels or vessels destined to or starting from India, in the context of the current Middle East tensions.

RIDING THE WAVE:- Bharat Maritime Insurance Pool Workshop Held in Mumbai

BMI Pool Cuts War-Risk Insurance Premiums by Up to 48%; Govt Unveils Three-Step Roadmap to Build India's Domestic P&I Insurance EcosystemIndia Pushes Maritime Insurance Self-Reliance as BMIP Lowers Premium Costs Posted On 05 JUN 2026 6:11PM by PIB Delhi A workshop on the recently launched Bharat Maritime Insurance Pool (BMIP) was organized on 5th June 2026 at the auditorium of the Shipping Corporation of India in Mumbai. The event was held in collaboration with the Directorate General of Shipping and the General Insurance Council.

CALMING THE STORM:- Grievance redressal mechanism being framed to prevent hospital-health insurance stand-off

Some concrete measures being discussed include having standard treatment protocols for common ailments to start with, which could help define pricing, says Dr S Prakash, Chief Executive Officer of the Health Insurance Ecosystem & Strategic Partnerships, General Insurance Council. Hospitals and insurance company representatives have been meeting every month for the last four months to iron out differences and put in place confidence-building measures, including training in digital systems and instituting grievance redressal mechanisms, said Dr S Prakash

Insurance Laws & policies

IRDAI Asks Insurers to Assess Exposure to Frontier AI Cyber Threats, Seeks ATR by May 22 Indian Insurance regulator IRDAI (Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority) to insurers’ CISOs (Chief Information Security Officer) on May 15 evening, advised all regulated entities to undertake an immediate review of their cybersecurity preparedness in light of emerging frontier AI-driven cyber threats, including risks arising from advanced AI enabled cyberattacks.

IRDAI to Frame Sabka Bima, Sabki Raksha Act Norms within Six MonthsThe Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) will frame fresh regulations and amend existing norms within six months of the implementation of the Sabka Bima, Sabki Raksha (Amendment of Insurance Laws) Act, 2025, according to minutes of the regulator’s 134th authority meeting held in March 2026 and released on Friday.The Sabka Bima, Sabki Raksha Act was notified on December 21, 2025, and came into effect on February 5, 2026. 8 | P a g e IRDAI said the process of drafting new regulations under the amended law, along with revising existing regulations, must be completed within six months from the date of implementation

Consumer Awareness

TInvisible Service: The Future of CX When AI Does the Work Before Customers NoticeThe most successful customer service interaction in history may be the one that never happened. No call answered. No email sent. No chatbot triggered. No complaint filed. No apology offered. And yet -the customer walked away completely happy. Sit with that for a moment.For most of my career in customer experience, I have been obsessed with making interactions better. Faster responses. Shorter queues. Warmer recoveries. Higher NPS. At Bajaj General, we have worked relentlessly on this -and the results have been real.

Young India’s Silent Heart Risk: Why Hypertension Insurance Planning Can’t Wait May 17 was World Hypertension Day. While hypertension was earlier considered a disease of the aged, now it is also affecting the young, especially people in their 30s and 40s. In fact, we often hear news of fit individuals having heart attacks. So now, it makes more sense to put heart health as a priority and get properly insured.

Why Travel Insurance is essential even for short international tripsInternational travel today is more accessible than ever. Weekend getaways to Dubai, short business visits to Singapore, or quick leisure trips to Thailand have become common. Because the duration is short, many travellers assume that travel insurance is optional. After all, what could go wrong in just three or four days? However, the reality is different. Medical emergencies, flight disruptions, or lost baggage do not depend on the length of your trip.

How Customer Experience in India’s Private Insurance Sector Has Evolved over the Past 25 Yearsver the last 25 years, the customer experience in India's private insurance business has transformed considerably from opaque, intermediary-driven interactions to increasingly transparent, technology-enabled experiences.

Global Highlights

Increasing civil unrest to impact insurers in AsiaThe rise in civil unrest across Asia has led to significant insured losses in countries like Indonesia and Nepal in 2025, according to a new report from Allianz Commercial. Allianz Research has tracked around 250 reported strikes, riots, and civil commotion (SRCC) events over the last five years with active participation exceeding 1,000 people and lasting for more than one day. Pakistan experienced the most SRCC events with 11, followed by Indonesia

Older Australians to be hit hard by the cuts in health insurance rebatesMore than 3m older Australians - including more than 400,000 pensioners with private health insurance - will be hit hard by the federal government's decision to cut private health insurance rebates for Australians aged over 65. The decision which is a part of Australia’s federal budget that will come into effect from 1 April 2027 would also require millions of retirees to pay hundreds of dollars more each year to keep their health insurance covers live. According to a media release by Private Healthcare Australia

General Insurance Council, Ground Floor, National Insurance Building, 12, Jamshedji Tata Road, Churchgate, Mumbai-400020, Maharashtra, India, sg@gicouncil.in
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Disclaimer : Our newsletter endeavors to compile insurance information from various sources in the public domain. In respect of 3rd party articles/news items etc. reproduced, the GI Council accepts no responsibility for the accuracy/authenticity and completeness nor can be seen as endorsing the views/opinions expressed therein.