India's insurance market is projected to be the G20's fastest-growing economy over the next five years, with total premium volumes -- life and non-life -- up 7.3 per cent in real terms on average each year aided by macroeconomic stability and the conducive regulatory environment, a report said on Tuesday.

       Life insurance, the mainstay of India's insurance market, accounts for 74 per cent of total premium volumes, according to a Swiss Re report on the insurance market outlook for India.

       Life premiums are estimated to grow by 4.8 per cent in 2024 in real terms and by 5 per cent in 2025 (2025-29: 6.9 per cent), following a meagre 0.7 per cent growth in 2023, when the savings segment was adversely impacted by regulatory and taxation changes, it said.

       The non-life insurance business is forecast to expand to 7.3 per cent (up from 5.7 per cent in 2024) on the back of rising risk awareness, robust economic growth and regulatory initiatives in support of digitalisation, it said.

       Apart from health and motor - the largest lines of non-life business - penetration of agricultural insurance has improved with changes to the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) in 2023, it said.

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       India is expected to surpass Germany and Japan to become the world's third-largest economy by the end of this decade, driven by domestic consumption, private investment and economic reforms.

       The economy will also derive support from steady global growth, forecast at 2.8 per cent in 2025 and 2.7 per cent in 2026.

       "India's insurance market is projected to be the G20's fastest-growing market over the next five years, with total premium volumes (life and non-life) up 7.3 per cent in real terms on average each year. Growth underpinned by macroeconomic tailwinds, digitalisation progress and the conducive regulatory environment," it said.

       The rapid pace of India's economic growth has moved faster than actions taken to reduce the vulnerabilities posed by natural catastrophes. Identification and accurate assessment of risk accumulation in hotspots is crucial to strengthening resilience and the re/insurance industry plays an important role, Swiss Re head (insurance market analysis) Mahesh H Puttaiah said.

       India's fast-expanding economy creating risk hotspots, especially in some regions of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Delhi, with high concentrations of industrial clusters, logistics infrastructure, renewable energy and other assets, which are vulnerable to flood and earthquake, among other risks, it said.

       In 2023, it said, natural catastrophes in India resulted in economic losses of USD 12 billion, well above the previous 10-year average of USD 8 billion.

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