‘Bima Sugam will make insurance inclusive, affordable, transparent’

Bima Sugam is an online insurance marketplace that aims to bea single-stop platform for customers to buy, service and settle claims for various policies. It has been called the “UPI moment for insurance”. Ina panel discussion at the Business Standard BFSI Insight Summit 2025, Debashish Banerjee, partner at Deloitte India; Narendra Bharindwal, president of the Insurance Brokers Association of India (IBAI); Sharad Mathur, managing director and chief executive officer of Universal Sompo General Insurance; and Amit Roy, partner and leader for insurance and allied businesses at PwC India, called Bima Sugam a tool for transparency, affordability and inclusion. Edited excerpts:

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Will Bima Sugam be a game-changer?

Roy: Insurance is about creating trust, more than anything else. People do a lot of research to find the right product but personally I feel it is really about trust: Giving people the opportunity to create something for themselves. I look at Bima Sugam as an answer to that. It will bring transparency, feasibility and customisation.

As you have invested in Bima Sugam, can you give your perspective about it?

Mathur: Insurance penetration in our country is extremely low. With a population of 1.45 billion, health insurance reaches only about 35-40 per cent of India. Vietnam, which is nowhere near as mature as the United States, has 70-80 per cent of its population insured. One issue is accessibility: Insurance offices and distribution partners cannot easily reach rural or Tier-III or Tier-IV areas. Bima Sugam aims to increase penetration, especially where the representation of insurers is limited. Affordability is another challenge. One positive step by the government is removing the Goods & Services Tax (GST) on life, health, travel and personal accident insurance. Bima Sugam will further help affordability by shifting distribution from commission-based (20-30 per cent) to fee-based, reducing premiums by another 20 percent. This will make insurance more accessible across the population.

How is insurance distribution going to change with Bima Sugam coming in?