Insurance giant Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) is looking to acquire a majority stake in a health insurance company during the current financial year ending 31 March 2025, LIC managing director and CEO Siddhartha Mohanty said.
While announcing the company’s financial results for the first quarter, Mr Mohanty said, “Rather than set up a vertical for insurance, we felt that we can acquire a company which will allow us to start selling health insurance across the country.”
At present, there are five established standalone health insurance companies — Star Health & Allied Insurance, Niva Bupa, Aditya Birla Health Insurance, Care Health Insurance and ManipalCigna Health Insurance. The regulator has also recently granted permission to two other health insurers — Galaxy Health and Narayana Health, reported Times of India.
LIC has over 1.4m agents, most of whom already distribute health insurance for other insurers as regulations permit an agent to work for life and non-life companies. These agents are expected to switch to selling LIC products.
Industry sources said that health insurance is increasingly becoming a ‘pull’ product, with many young buyers actively seeking coverage. This presents an opportunity for agents to engage with potential customers. Therefore, the availability of health insurance is expected to benefit the life insurance business as well.