The competition in the non-life insurance industry is heating up with four new players entering the market.
IRDAI has updated the list of non-life players in India in which it has included four new general insurance companies – Edelweiss General, DHFL General Insurance, Acko General Insurance and Go-Digit Insurance.
While Edelweiss General and DHFL General are into financial services, the other two non-life insurers are fintech start-ups.
DSP BlackRock and Narayana Murthy, co-founder of Infosys, have a majority stake in Acko General Insurance whereas Canada based billionaire Prem Watsa’s company Fairfax Holdings owns Go-Digit.
Earlier, Edelweiss General and DHFL General Insurance had told Cafemutual that they would follow a multi-channel distribution approach with a focus on the digital channel. However, the other two-fintech startups, Acko and Go-Digit, will distribute their policies exclusively through the digital channel. Acko has even issued a statement that they will not recruit agents for distribution of their products.
With the addition of the four new non-life insurers, the total count goes up to 33. As on March 2018, the total non-life insurance new business premium was at Rs.1.51 lakh crore.