Gender Discrimination in the Insurance Sector in India

The growth of life insurance sector mainly depends on number of policies issued by life insurance companies and role of insurance agents. In case of life insurance sector, number of agents increased from 26.28 lakhs in 31.03.2023 to 28.95 lakhs in 31.03.2024.

- 

1. Introduction

India's insurance sector is vast and potential. During the financial year 2023-24 total insurance premium collected were Rs. 11,19,613/- crore. It includes Rs. 8,29,929/- crore from Life Insurance sector, Rs. 1,72,978/- crore from General Insurance sector and Rs. 1,16,694/- crore from Health Insurance sector. Women comprise nearly 49% of the total population in India. Their contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country is significant and is increasing every year. Insurance sector plays a pivotal role in the GDP of the country.

As per Swiss Re Sigma World Insurance Report, the insurance penetration of life insurance sector in India is reduced from 3 percent in 2022-23 to 2.7 percent during 2023-24. The penetration with respect to Non-life insurance industry remained same at 1 per cent during 2023-24 as in 2022-23. This article explores there are several issues concerning gender discrimination in the insurance sector in India hence it results low insurance density and low insurance penetration in India as compared to globe.

2. Insurance Penetration and Insurance Density - India Vs World

Insurance penetration and insurance density are two significant metrics applied in the insurance sector to evaluate the stage of development of insurance sector in the country. Insurance penetration is measured as the percentage of collected insurance premiums to Gross Domestic Product. Insurance density is calculated as the ratio of collected insurance premium to total population i.e. per capita premium.