Insurance companies in India by type of business
The list of insurance companies in India falls into four working groups: life insurers, general insurers, standalone health insurers and reinsurers. Each group is licensed for a different kind of risk, and a company registered in one group cannot simply sell the products of another. Knowing the group tells you what a firm is allowed to cover before you read a single brochure.
The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India, known as IRDAI, regulates insurers in the country. The names below are a snapshot of insurers by category. Mergers, new licences and renamings happen, so anyone buying a policy should confirm a company’s registration with IRDAI before paying.
The General Insurance Council lists 47 member insurers. Grouped by category, that makes 28 general insurers, 8 standalone health insurers and 11 reinsurance or specialised entities, including branches of foreign reinsurers and Lloyd’s India. Treat these counts as a guide to the shape of the market and not as an official total, which only IRDAI can give. Before you buy, ask the insurer in writing for its IRDAI registration number and the category it is registered in, and keep that reply with your policy papers.
Life insurance is listed separately below, because life insurers form their own group with their own Life Insurance Council.
General insurers: motor, home, travel, crop and more
General insurers sell cover other than life: vehicles, property, travel, crop and many commercial risks. The first list below names the general insurers. If you come across IndusInd General, confirm its registration with IRDAI before relying on it.
- Agriculture Insurance Company of India
- Bajaj General
- Cholamandalam MS General
- Go Digit General
- HDFC ERGO General
- ICICI Lombard
- IFFCO-Tokio General
- Zurich Kotak General
- Liberty General
- Magma General
- National Insurance
- The Oriental Insurance
- Raheja QBE General
- Royal Sundaram General
- SBI General
- Shriram General
- Tata AIG General
- The New India Assurance
- United India Insurance
- Universal Sompo General
- Acko General
- Zuno General
- Kshema General
- Navi General
- ECGC
- Generali India Insurance
- ProTec General
The group mixes very different firms. National Insurance, The Oriental Insurance, The New India Assurance and United India Insurance are the long-established public sector names. Agriculture Insurance Company of India is tied to crop cover by name, and ECGC is a credit insurer by name. Several others, such as Acko General, Zuno General, Kshema General and Navi General, carry newer brand names.
IRDAI approved the registration of Kiwi General Insurance Limited on 9 March 2026, a newer name that is not in the list above. A recent approval may be missing from some lists, so a buyer should rely on IRDAI’s current register for a final answer.
Life insurers and their reported number
India had 26 life insurers as of April 2025, including the Life Insurance Corporation of India. The names that follow are the life insurers of that date. Companies may have been added, merged or renamed since then, so check the current number with IRDAI.
- LIC
- HDFC Life
- Axis Max Life
- ICICI Prudential Life
- Kotak Life
- Aditya Birla Sun Life
- Tata AIA
- SBI Life
- Bajaj Allianz Life
- PNB MetLife
- Reliance Nippon Life
- Aviva
- Sahara
- Shriram Life
- Bharti AXA Life
- Generali Central Life
- Ageas Federal Life
- Canara HSBC Life
- Bandhan Life
- Pramerica
- Star Union Dai-ichi
- IndiaFirst
- Edelweiss Life
- Credit Access Life
- Acko Life
- Go Digit Life
LIC stands apart as the state-owned giant, while the rest are mostly joint ventures between Indian groups, banks and foreign partners, as the names suggest: Tata AIA, PNB MetLife, Canara HSBC Life, Star Union Dai-ichi and Bajaj Allianz Life all point to a bank, an industrial group or an overseas insurer behind them. Others, such as Acko Life and Go Digit Life, share a brand with a general insurer in the other list.
Life insurance and general insurance are separate licences, so the same brand may appear in both lists as two distinct companies with separate balance sheets. When a policy document names the insurer, read the full legal name and match it to the right category, because a similar-sounding group name does not tell you which entity carries your risk.
Standalone health insurers
Standalone health insurers sell only health products. India has eight: Aditya Birla Health, ManipalCigna Health, Niva Bupa Health, Care Health, Star Health and Allied, Narayana Health Insurance, Galaxy Health and Prudential HCL Health. As of April 2025 the number was six, which shows how quickly a count can date.
The latest addition is Prudential HCL Health Insurance, registered by IRDAI at its 136th Authority meeting on 29 June 2026 as India’s eighth standalone health insurer, which matches the eight named above. For a buyer, a standalone insurer is regulated like any other insurer, but it handles only health claims, hospital networks and related products.
General insurers also sell health policies as part of their range, so a health cover does not have to come from a standalone company. The practical point is to look at the insurer behind the policy and not the agent or the app that sold it. The name that appears on the policy schedule is the one that carries the obligation, so compare it with the category lists above and confirm it with IRDAI.
Reinsurers and specialised entities
Reinsurers insure the insurers. They take part of the risk that an ordinary company writes, so that a large loss does not fall on one balance sheet. Members of the public do not usually buy from them. Eleven reinsurance or specialised entities operate in this group.
The group includes the General Insurance Corporation of India, called GIC Re, and Valueattics Reinsurance. It also includes branches of foreign reinsurers: RGA Life Re, General Reinsurance AG, Munich Re, Swiss Re, SCOR and Hannover Rück. Lloyd’s India, Allianz Global Corporate and Speciality, and Factory Mutual branches also operate here.
A newer name is Allianz Jio Reinsurance Limited, whose registration IRDAI approved on 9 March 2026. It is owned in equal parts by Allianz Europe B.V. and Jio Financial Services. After that approval India counted three domestic reinsurers. The distinction between domestic reinsurers and foreign branches matters for anyone studying the market, though it rarely affects an ordinary policyholder.
Mutual protection and takaful in the Indian market
Readers looking for cover that avoids interest and uncertainty often ask whether any of these companies offers takaful. Takaful is a mutual protection arrangement in which participants pay into a common pool that helps members who suffer a loss, with an operator managing it for a fee or a share of profit. The insurers named above are conventional companies, and IRDAI has licensed no takaful operator in India.
In 2005 the Life Insurance Corporation announced a joint venture called Indo-Saudi Insurance Company to introduce takaful, but that company was to operate in Saudi Arabia under Saudi law, not in India. For any takaful offer you meet in India, ask the seller for its IRDAI registration in writing, and ask a Sharia adviser whether the arrangement meets Islamic requirements. A seller who cannot name the registered insurer behind the scheme is not offering insurance you can rely on.
Because an unlicensed seller of insurance-like products can leave a customer with no recourse, treat any scheme that promises cover without naming a registered insurer with caution. Online financial fraud can be reported through the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal and helpline 1930.
Using the list of insurance companies in India to choose an insurer
Start with the category you need. Cover for a vehicle, a house or a trip belongs with a general insurer. Cover for the family’s finances after a death belongs with a life insurer. Hospital bills can go to a standalone health company or to the health product of a general insurer. Reinsurers are not the answer for an individual.
Then confirm that the company is current. Read the policy schedule for the legal name, find it in the category lists, and ask the insurer for its IRDAI registration details. Because the life list dates from April 2025, a recent licence or merger may not appear here.
Last, compare what matters to you: the exclusions, the waiting periods, the claim process and how complaints are handled. Never pay by transferring money to a personal account. A genuine insurer collects premiums through its own channels and issues a policy document with its full name.