ALICE VAIDYAN

What is the outlook for the life insurance industry in 2018?

Amitabh Chaudhry: We have had four years of pretty solid growth across all sectors of insurance—for life insurance there has been four years of 15 per cent plus growth, and this year it is upwards of 30 per cent. When you look at the economic scenario, the national health scheme, the fact that India is underpenetrated and all the rest, I do believe the runway for growth is huge. Earlier, we would struggle to compete with other financial asset classes because our returns were low, but now our returns are as good if not better than them.

Arijit Basu: Insurance is one of the key mechanisms by which we can provide social security in the country. Besides a large number of poor people, we also find that Indians are hugely under-protected. A lot of improvement has taken place in the last few years towards highlighting the impact of insurance.

Alice Vaidyan: From an investment point of view, we have very good potential, and insurers play a big role. At a macro-level, look at the funds we have at our disposal; when western markets are growing at one to two per cent, we are looking at 30 per cent. India is now the tenth largest life insurance market in the world, and fifteenth largest non-life insurance market in the world. This is around $8090 billion of insurance premiums in the country as of now. Investment of insurance funds in infrastructure building of the nation will play a big role.

G Srinivasan: The focus of the Budget on the rural economy and infrastructure is highly positive. If income levels of 60 per cent of the population go up, then to that extent, insurance companies will get more business. Additionally if aviation and transport projects take off, there is going to be huge potential for the sector. The government’s focus on insurance as a social security tool and also a measure for risk