InsuranceDekho records 9-fold rise in policies, targets Rs 200 cr premium

InsuranceDekho wants to be part of the growth wave with the rise of SMEs and MSMEs in the manufacturing sector

Insurtech firm InsuranceDekho recently announced that it has recorded a nine-fold increase in the distribution of insurance policies to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) over the past six months. The company is targeting a premium of Rs 200 crore for the current financial year.

Looking forward, InsuranceDekho aims to be part of the growth wave accompanying the rise of SMEs and MSMEs in the manufacturing sector. MSMEs comprise around 75 per cent of the company's customers. In line with its aggressive strategy to penetrate the SME business, InsuranceDekho acquired Verak, a Mumbai-based SME insurance distribution company backed by Sequoia and LightSpeed, and Gujarat-based IRSS, in April this year.

The Gurugram-based insurtech firm stated that it is focusing on fire & shop insurance, workmen’s compensation, transit insurance, and group health insurance for SMEs. Fire and marine insurance are significant verticals in the company's portfolio, constituting two-thirds of its business.

Ankit Agrawal, CEO and founder of InsuranceDekho, said, “We believe that if India has to grow for the next 25 years, SMEs and MSMEs will be the key drivers of this growth. As these businesses grow, they will need someone to advise them on the risks associated with the business and how to insure against them, and InsuranceDekho aims to play a role in that.”

The company revealed that it works on a ‘D-square-E’ strategy in its insurtech business, focusing on distribution, digitisation, and customer education.

“We have started digitising the platform. In the first phase, we have already gone live with our SME platform. We are hiring people across the country who can work with our agent partners, educate and teach them on the various do's and don'ts of our SME policy, and then they, in turn, will go out and talk to the SME owners and advise them on risks associated with the business and help them get insured,” Agrawal noted.

However, he observes that insurance penetration in the country stands at a mere four per cent.

“There is an insurance penetration gap in the country. (But), (...) the sector is growing at 15-20 per cent every single year. Hence, you see all the investment which is coming in, (and) that is why the sector is so lucrative,” he explained.

InsuranceDekho has strengthened its presence in Tier-II and Tier-III cities and derives 82 per cent of its premium from these regions.

The company's network includes over one lakh agent partners across India. As per data, 10 Indians are buying insurance from InsuranceDekho every minute, and it has served over 5 million customers since 2017 – a significant achievement for a bootstrapped start-up with an investment of around $20 million.

Recently in the news for raising $150 million in Series A funding – the largest Insurtech Series A funding in India and South East Asia – from prominent investors like Goldman Sachs, TVS Capital, and LeapFrog Investments, InsuranceDekho offers more than 410 insurance products across five categories (Motor, Health, Life, Travel, and Pet) in partnership with 46 insurance companies, including the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC). One factor contributing to the company's anticipated growth is that 83 per cent of its business is coming from Tier-II and beyond regions.

The company has also forayed into the cyber insurance space recently.

“It has become very common nowadays for people to impersonate an individual. What do you do in case there is an identity theft? How do you make sure that any risk or any kind of loss which has happened because of (the identity theft) is taken care of? These are some of the risks which we are now working with insurance companies to insure,” Agrawal added.