BENGALURU : Even though lack of awareness has curbed the growth of the number of women insurers in the country, the individual insurance premium spending by women in India has the potential to grow up to $35 billion (up to 2 to 4 times the estimated premium of $10 billion spent by women in 2013), a study by Bharti Axa General Insurance points out.
With three million SME enterprises in India, fully or partially owned by women and with women’s entrepreneurship growing at more than 4.5 percent annually, this could boost the growth of women insurers. The study states that a large portion of the Indian population considered “low income” is likely to grow into the market for insurers.
“We have been doing research in as many as 10 emerging markets to understand the needs of women,” said Mabel Leung, Regional Head of Brands and Insights, AXA Asia. As more and more women begin to get into the workforce, they were able to understand the importance of insurance. However, there was a need for awareness in this regard, she said. This includes China, Thailand, India, Mexico, and Brazil among others.
Parag Gupta, Chief Underwriting Officer, Bharti AXA General Insurance observed that health insurance is a `25,000 crores market in India out of which only `300 crores is contributed by women.