Historically, the insurance sector in India has struggled to scale, remaining far below its potential. Insurance penetration was at 4.2% of India’s GDP in FY 2021–22, compared to a global average of 6.8%. Life insurance accounts for 3.2%, and non-life insurance, a mere 1.0%.
Despite rapid strides in economic growth and increasing product awareness, insurance adoption in rural India remains dismally low. This is primarily due to a complex interplay of factors, including limited financial literacy, the prevalence of informal, community-based risk-sharing mechanisms, and a deep-seated skepticism towards formal financial institutions. Even on the supply side, financial institutions have traditionally focused on urban India due to the relative ease of operations, further exacerbating the issue. As India aims to achieve inclusive growth, enhancing insurance uptake in rural India requires innovative financial products and long-term efforts to build trust and awareness among citizens.
What is Finhaat doing differently?
In rural India, just 11.5% of households have net savings, and under 10% have life insurance. Economic vulnerability is most acute in low-income segments, especially for farmers confronting countless risks. Yet, tailored products to mitigate uncertainties and boost financial stability and growth are few and far between. Finhaat is transforming this landscape by improving financial access and resilience for the underserved millions.
Finhaat is a B2B insurance distribution platform targeted at rural areas, connecting institutional clients such as MFIs, Cooperatives, NBFCs, NGOs, FPOs, and banking correspondents with insurers. These institutions, which already have a customer base in rural locales, are empowered by Finhaat to offer custom insurance products directly to their customers, leveraging end-to-end digital solutions for policy issuance, claims processing, and settlement. Rural institutions working with Finhaat can now launch embedded insurance offerings in addition to just selling retail insurance products.
Aside from helping monetize the existing customer bases with minimal effort and cost, Finhaat also enhances the ability of these rural institutions to sell and manage insurance policies through specialized training for sales staff. Simultaneously, the startup aids insurers in better underwriting and designing insurance products tailored for rural customers by providing valuable actuarial and behavioral data, thereby reducing customer acquisition costs and improving the turnaround time for claims settlement through its efficient digital platform.
How big is the market opportunity?
India’s rural population is made up of 230 million households, including 130 million farmers. There are also 480 million insurable livestock animals, one-third of all rural households own a two-wheeler vehicle, and over 50 lakh unique tractor owners. The current insurance coverage in rural India ranges from 10 to 20%. The total addressable market for rural insurance in terms of premiums paid is approximately USD 18.6 billion per annum and can grow at 20% CAGR for the next few years to reach USD 46 billion by 2028. As of January 2024, Finhaat has 60 transacting institutional clients and partnerships with all major insurers in India.
What about Finhaat was compelling for Omnivore?
Insurance is often seen as a discretionary expense in rural India. In most cases, the target customers often miss the need or relevance of this financial tool. On the other hand, even when they see value, affordability is a hurdle. Finhaat is distinguishing itself within the rural insurance space through its scalable B2B model and a digital platform that enables seamless and end-to-end processing and management of insurance through its APIs. This will drive digitization across India, and the streamlined claims processes will help build trust in the concept of insurance.
Spearheading Finhaat are Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA) graduates and financial services veterans Sandeep Katiyar, Navneet Shrivastava and Vinod Singh. All three bring deep expertise in rural financial services and rural insurance distribution. Finhaat empowers smallholder farmers and rural communities to take control of their financial freedom and protect themselves from economic shocks.
The company will use the capital raised to expand further by building robust technological models, enriching product experience, introducing innovative products, enhancing our partner base and hiring resources for new verticals. We are thrilled to welcome Finhaat to our portfolio and support the startup’s vision of accessible, affordable and unique insurance products for all.
