IndiGo chaos brings travel insurance back in focus

THE ONGOING INDIGO'S operational crisis has brought the focus on the largely-overlooked travel insurance market, which accounts for less than 1% of the €3-lakh-crore general insurance industry.

- NARAYANAN V

Air travel across India has been in disarray over the past week after the country’s largest airline, IndiGo, cancelled more than 4,500 flights starting last Tuesday, leaving thousands of passengers stranded at airports nationwide.

Despite record air travel and frequency of such delays and cancellations, the demand for travel insurance in India is yet to take off. According to Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India data, only 7.5 million lives were covered under 2.32 million overseas travel policies in FY24, resulting in premium collections of 1,099.04 crore. The domestic travel insurance segment is even smaller, generating a paltry 125.53 crore in premiums despite insurers covering 433.1 million lives under 162,000 policies. (The latest travel insurance data are not available.)