Narayana Health gets Irdai nod to launch health insurance business

Narayana Health received approval from the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) to launch a health insurance business in India.

The company runs one of the largest hospital chains under the brand name of Narayana Hospital.

In a press release, IRDAI said, “Insurance Regulatory & Development Authority of India (IRDAI) in its 124th meeting held on December 28, 2023, has granted a Certificate of Registration to a new health insurer namely, Narayana Health Insurance Limited to carry health insurance business in India after a hiatus of 5 years.”

Post the approval, the number of Standalone Health Insurance Companies (SAHI) will rise to 6 from the existing 5.

Recently, at an event organised by the National Insurance Academy (NIA), IRDAI Chairman Debasish Panda said, “the last year had seen the entry of a few new players. More than four new insurance companies entered into the market, and that is marking a significant development after a hiatus of almost 12 years in the life sector and 5 years in the general insurance sector, and there are a few also in the pipeline.”

Even as IRDAI has announced the goal of ensuring ‘Insurance for All’ by 2047, the penetration of non-life insurance companies remained unchanged at 1 per cent.

“As such, India's overall insurance penetration reduced to 4 per cent in 2022-23 from the level of 4.2 per cent in 2021-22,” IRDAI said in its annual report.

In December 2023, the SAHIs clocked a 26.24 per cent year-on-year (YoY) growth in premium to Rs 2,915.37 crore from Rs 2,309.35 crore in December 2022.