The competition in the non-life insurance industry is heating up with three new players entering the market. In the latest development, IRDAI has given its go ahead to three insurers - DHFL General Insurance, Acko General Insurance and Go-Digit Insurance.
While DHFL General Insurance is a subsidiary of the DHFL group, the other two non-life insurers are fintech start-ups.
DSP BlackRock and Narayan 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, DHFL General Insurance had told Cafemutual that it would follow a multi-channel distribution approach with a focus on digital channel. However, the other two-fintech startups, Acko and Go-Digit will distribute their policies exclusively through digital channel. In fact, Acko has issued a statement that they will not recruit agents for distribution of their products.
A recent media report suggests that DHFL General Insurance will start its operations with an initial capital of Rs. 190 crore while Go-Digit General Insurance companies will enter the general insurance business with a capital of Rs.385 crore.
Currently, there are 30 general insurance companies in the country. With the new non-life insurers adding up, the total count will go up to 33. As on March 2017, the total non-life insurance new business premium was at Rs. 1.27 lakh crore.
