India’s non-life insurance premiums increased 10% in August 2026 to ₹27,455 crore, taking growth for the first five months of FY27 to 9.6%, compared with 6% a year earlier, according to CareEdge Ratings. Health insurance remained the principal growth driver, with premiums rising 18% year-on-year to ₹10,834 crore, accounting for 39.5% of total non-life premiums in August and 44% during April-August. Retail health premiums grew an especially strong 32.5%, marking the fifth consecutive month of growth above 30%, while group health increased 15.6%.
Standalone health insurers benefited significantly, recording 30.4% growth, compared with 12.5% for private multiline insurers and 0.6% for public-sector general insurers. Their combined share of August non-life premiums increased to 73.3% from 69.5% a year earlier. Retail health remains particularly important for specialist insurers, which held 59.7% of retail health premiums during April-August. CareEdge attributed the underlying growth to rising renewals, new policyholders and improved claims experience, rather than pricing alone.
The broader market, however, showed uneven performance. Motor premiums rose 10.4%, while fire premiums declined sharply by 24.8% in August and 28.1% for the financial year to date, with competitive pricing cited as a major factor. Crop premiums more than tripled from July to ₹3,274 crore following extended Kharif enrolment, but were only 1.1% higher year-on-year. The figures indicate that current non-life growth is being driven disproportionately by retail health, while commercial segments continue to face pricing pressure.
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