India Insurer Scorecard: Health Leads, Floods Hit General Lines

India's listed insurers have now reported results for the quarter that ended on September 30, 2026, the second quarter of the 2027 financial year. Put side by side, the results divide into two groups. Standalone health insurers earned money from underwriting. General insurers, which sell motor, property, crop and health cover together, mostly did not, and depended on investment income. This PolicyRix Team analysis ranks four insurers by combined ratio, adds two that did not report one in the sources we used, and explains what the pattern may mean for policyholders. All figures come from our earlier stories on each company, and the margins are our own calculation. It is an analysis of public information and is not investment advice.

How to read the numbers

A combined ratio adds claims and expenses and divides them by premium. Below 100% means an underwriting profit, and above 100% means a loss before investment income. We convert each ratio to a margin by subtracting it from 100. One crore is ten million rupees.

The ranking

Niva Bupa Health Insurance reported a combined operating ratio of 93.2%, improved from 96.6% a year earlier, which is a margin of 6.8 points. Star Health reported 98.0%, improved from 100.9%, a margin of 2.0 points, with an underwriting profit of Rs 99 crore against a loss of Rs 40 crore. Go Digit reported a combined insurance service ratio of 99.8%, a margin of 0.2 points, or 97.4% excluding a flood loss. ICICI Lombard reported 107.0% on the 1/n accounting basis, a negative margin of 7.0 points, or 105.3% excluding catastrophe losses of Rs 1.18 billion, and 104.5% on the older 'n' basis.

Two more insurers belong in the picture although the sources we used gave no combined ratio. New India Assurance, the state-owned general insurer, reported a standalone loss of about Rs 1,267 crore and an operating loss of about Rs 2,330 crore. GIC Re, the national reinsurer, reported an underwriting loss of about Rs 1,080 crore on gross premiums of about Rs 11,228 crore.

Pattern one: health specialists are ahead

Both standalone health insurers improved by about three percentage points from a year earlier, and both grew quickly. Niva Bupa's gross written premium rose 35% and its retail health premium rose 47%. Star Health's gross written premium rose 19% and its fresh retail premium rose 35%. Growth and better margins arriving together suggest that price increases and claims control are holding, at least for now. ICICI Lombard's retail health premium also grew 64%, well ahead of the industry's 32.3%, which shows general insurers want the same business.

Pattern two: floods and large losses hit general lines

Weather explains part of the gap. Go Digit's ratio was 2.4 points higher because of a flood loss. ICICI Lombard's catastrophe losses added 1.7 points. New India Assurance cited flood claims in Gujarat, North India and the North East together with several large property losses. Property pricing is also weak: ICICI Lombard's fire premium fell 21.2%, and New India said falling property rates were the main drag on its growth. Lower prices and higher claims in the same quarter are a difficult mix.

Pattern three: investments carried the profit

Several insurers were profitable only because of investment income. ICICI Lombard's investment income was Rs 15.54 billion, including Rs 4.53 billion of capital gains, against a profit after tax of Rs 9.46 billion. GIC Re's net investment income of about Rs 2,815 crore more than covered its underwriting loss and produced a profit of about Rs 2,456 crore. Go Digit's investment income of Rs 368.4 crore was larger than its profit of Rs 142.4 crore. New India booked about Rs 1,800 crore of gains from selling part of its stake in the National Stock Exchange and still reported a loss. Investment income is a normal part of an insurer's earnings, but gains from selling assets cannot be repeated every quarter.

Pattern four: shrinking by choice

Go Digit's gross written premium fell 3.6%, and its management attributed flat premium to not renewing business it considered poorly priced. ICICI Lombard's premium grew 3.0% on the 1/n basis against 7.0% for the industry. Both are choosing margin over volume in parts of the market, which is a sign of pricing pressure in commercial and motor lines.

What it could mean for policyholders

For health insurance buyers, profitable specialists are in a position to compete for new customers, though medical inflation still pushes renewal premiums up. For motor and property customers, insurers that are losing money on underwriting tend to tighten terms or raise prices where the regulator's framework allows. Solvency was above the required 1.5 times at every insurer that reported it: ICICI Lombard at 2.74, Go Digit at 2.40, Niva Bupa at 2.03 and New India at 1.61. New India's margin above the minimum is the thinnest of the group.

What this analysis cannot tell us

The ratios are not measured the same way. ICICI Lombard reports on the 1/n basis, which spreads long-term policy premiums over time. Go Digit's figure is an insurance service ratio under a different accounting presentation, and the reports we used for it contained figures that did not fully reconcile. Health and multi-line insurers also carry different risks. One quarter that includes the monsoon is not typical of the full year. Treat the ranking as a guide.

What to watch next

Watch the December-quarter results, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India's work on expense limits and distribution costs, and whether property rates stabilise. This analysis was prepared by the PolicyRix Team from public reporting and is not financial advice.