Mumbai Outpaces Other Metros in buying most health covers in FY21

The city of Mumbai has beaten Delhi and Bangalore when it comes to buying health insurance amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Speaking about this development, ICICI Lombard chief underwriting officer Sanjay Datta said, “States such as Maharashtra, Delhi, and Gujarat have always been financially aware and among the top purchasers of health insurance. But Mumbai now is our fastest-growing metro in retail health insurance sales. Its growth is far higher than last year’s increase. We have seen inquiries triple and yes, a spike in Covid cases has in places mirrored the higher insurance sales.”

The health insurance boom amid the Covid-19 pandemic has proven to be the most fruitful for insurance sales portal PolicyBazaar. The rush in Mumbai has resulted in an 88% rise year-over-year since April 1, 2020, for PolicyBazaar. This has pushed Maharashtra’s share in India’s individual health insurance purchase to 24%.

In fact, Bengaluru, on the other hand, seems to be outpacing Mumbai in terms of the run rate, but the IT city’s share in the overall pie is much smaller. Delhi has clocked a 31% increase during this period. For public sector general insurers, the territories are marked according to where their headquarters are. For New India, the country’s largest state-run general insurance player, the western region is the biggest market.

Talking about this, New India’s chief executive Atul Sahai said, “This region, comprising Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Madhya Pradesh, has always formed 50% of our total India health sales. All India, retail health insurance grew at 20% for us, with Maharashtra seeing higher than normal sales.”