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New Delhi, May 2: With the finance ministry yet to respond to the insurance industry’s demand for relaxation of capital investment norms and introducing health insurance as a separate segment, industry biggies like Malvinder Singh and Shivinder Singh of Ranbaxy and Fortis Healthcare, Prathap C Reddy of Apollo Hospitals and noted cardiologist Naresh Trehan are now knocking on the doors of Planning Commission .
The private players have been asking for lowering the investment requirement for setting up insurance companies by half from the present Rs 100 crore to Rs 50 crore. The industry has also been prodding the government to initiate policy changes to introduce health insurance as a separate segment of insurance. The matter has been lying with the finance ministry for some time now.
The industry honchos met senior officials of Planning Commission, including member Anwar-ul Hoda to impress upon them the urgency of the matter so that the Commission could pursue the matter with the finance ministry.
An Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) official told FE that the awareness among Indian consumers about the need for health insurance products was very low.
“Not many people are aware of health insurance policies or opt for one and even if they do, they treat the policy as a tax benefit rather than as a health cover. The Indian consumer spends around 1.2% of his total expenditure on health insurance products. This is very low compared to the other countries,” he pointed out.
Overall, insurance products’ penetration in India is only around 3% compared to 6% in other Asian countries.
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