Mint BFSI Summit | Bima Sugam: Unlocking the potential of digital insurance coverage

Mumbai: With the government-backed digital insurance coverage market Bima Sugam set to debut in just a few months, business leaders anticipate will probably be a game-changer for a vital sector that’s vastly under-penetrated in India.

On the Mint BFSI Summit and Awards 2025 in Mumbai on Friday, business executives outlined the transformative potential of Bima Sugam, anticipating that it’ll assist each new-age and conventional insurers take their merchandise to the nation’s remotest corners.

Bima Sugam will “actually assist enhance consciousness about digital insurance coverage, which can profit all insurtech gamers within the nation”, mentioned Rajiv Gupta, president of PB Fintech Ltd, the guardian firm of on-line insurance coverage market PolicyBazaar.

Bima Sugam will instill much-needed shopper confidence in on-line insurance coverage purchases, he mentioned.

Vishal Gupta, chief government of PhonePe Insurance coverage, echoed Rajiv Gupta’s sentiment, drawing parallels between Bima Sugam and the transformative success of UPI—the broadly used unified funds interface that allows real-time financial institution transfers. 

Bima Sugam “can allow your complete ecosystem and broaden the insurance coverage market”, Vishal Gupta mentioned, including that the platform can empower a various vary of gamers, from on-line disruptors to conventional offline brokers.

A belief challenge

Mayank Bathwal, CEO of Aditya Birla Well being Insurance coverage, highlighted Bima Sugam’s potential to deal with the vital challenge of belief within the insurance coverage business. 

“As an impartial entity, Bima Sugam can play a vital function in growing consciousness, driving consideration, and facilitating seamless success for shoppers,” he mentioned, including that the platform’s transparency and trustworthiness could be key in direction of reaching the federal government’s ambition of insurance coverage for all by 2047.

Rajiv Gupta of PB Fintech additionally emphasised the platform’s skill to streamline processes, empower brokers, and convey much-needed transparency to the system. “A centralized platform like Bima Sugam will take away the silos and coordination challenges that prospects face at this time, making it simpler to file claims and handle insurance policies,” he mentioned.

Vishal Gupta mentioned if Bima Sugam “can allow innovation and attain throughout numerous interfaces and geographies, will probably be a game-changer”.

Bathwal highlighted the platform’s potential to eradicate data asymmetry and scale back distribution prices, finally benefiting shoppers. “Bima Sugam may also help us create extra customized and environment friendly choices, as it is going to have entry to useful knowledge and consent-based data,” he mentioned.

Reaching rural areas

The dialogue on the Mint BFSI Summit additionally went in-depth on the function of know-how in enhancing insurance coverage providers.

Whereas Rajiv Gupta of PB Fintech famous that tech-driven efficiencies may result in extra customized merchandise and higher monetary literacy, significantly in underserved areas, Vishal Gupta of PhonePe Insurance coverage emphasizing the transformative potential of synthetic intelligence in bettering distribution, reaching the “lacking center”, and enabling error-free pricing.

The “lacking center” in insurance coverage refers back to the inhabitants that doesn’t fall within the class of both low-income individuals lined underneath numerous authorities schemes or those that can afford to purchase their very own insurance coverage.

On issues about guaranteeing Bima Sugam’s accessibility and effectivity for rural prospects, Vishal Gupta mentioned digital platforms had already confirmed their skill to achieve tier two and tier three cities, citing PhonePe’s personal gross sales statistics.