Niva Bupa strengthens its presence in Southern India

Chennai, December 21, 2021: Niva Bupa Health Insurance (formerly known as Max Bupa Health Insurance) – one of India’s leading standalone health insurance players, today announced its growth and business targets for the Southern markets for FY 23-24, as part of its next phase of growth. The brand has consolidated its position in the Southern market with steady growth of 84% in retail business in the last two years.Niva Bupa aims to achieve Gross Written Premium of INR 800 crore in the next two years and plans to provide health coverage to over 10 lakh people in the Southern region by FY 23-24. The company has consolidated its position with expansion to 37 cities with 45 offices across Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Kerala.

In Tamil Nadu, Niva Bupa has aggressive expansion plans and targets to provide health insurance to 2,20,000 people by FY 23-24. The company will bring business opportunities for people in the state as it plans to onboard around 7,500 agents by FY 23-24. In the next five years, the company is eyeing around INR 175 Crore gross written premium and 11 times increase in policy purchase in Tamil Nadu.Customers can avail cashless hospitalization across400 network hospitals in the state. Currently, Niva Bupa has 15 offices in Tamil Nadu including Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai, Pondicherry, Salem, Trichy, Vellore, Erode, Tirunelveli, Thanjavur, Hosur, Kanchipuram and Tiruvallur.

Niva Bupa has been increasing its reach and presence steadily across the South market. The company has 10 offices in Karnataka including Bangalore, Mangalore, Mysore, Shimoga, Tumkur, Belgaum, and Hubli; 8 offices in Andhra Pradesh including Nellore, Rajahmundry, Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Tirupati, Cuddapah, Guntur, and Anantapur; 9 offices in Telangana including Dilsukh Nagar, Nizamabad, Secunderabad, Warangal, Hyderabad, Karimnagar, and Nalgonda and 3 offices in Kerala including Kochi, Kozhikode, and Trivandrum. Niva Bupa also aims to increase policy purchase by 6 times in the next two years across these states. The Company has close to 2,500 network hospitals in South India and close to 8000hospitals across the country. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the company paid Covid related claims worth INR 95 crore to 6,500 customers in the South market, helping them during the toughest hours.

Nationally, the brand is on a strong growth curve and has been aggressively expanding its presence across Tier II, III and IV cities, opening one new office in every 3.5 days in the currentyear. Currently, Niva Bupa has presence in 350 cities across the country which will further increase to over 600 cities by FY 23-24.The company aims to achieve INR 5,000 crore Gross Written Premium by FY 23-24.

According to a recent survey conducted amongst the insurance agents across Southern market, there is a substantial increase in the demand for health insurance post the outbreak of Covid-19. The survey highlights that low awareness and clarity on health insurance is limiting the purchase of health insurance products in the region. Niva Bupa plans to onboard 30,000 agents in the southern region by FY23-24 who would support the company in its endeavour to raise awareness about health insurance and increase its penetration in the region. The company will provide adequate training programs and encourage women and housewives living in the Southern market to become insurance agents, thereby helping them to become financially independent.

Talking about its expansion plans in South, Mr. Krishnan Ramachandran, MD & CEO, Niva Bupa Health Insurance said, “At Niva Bupa, our purpose is to build an intimate brand and simplify health insurance to drive massive adoption across customer segments. The expansion is in line with Niva Bupa’s vision of making quality healthcare services accessible to all and enabling people to lead a fulfilling life. We are excited to increase footprint in the Southern market as it’s a step closer to our goal of bringing 10 lakh people under the ambit of health insurance by FY24. Apart from expanding our presence in the Tier III & IV markets, we are also investing heavily in growing our product portfolio. We plan to continue on our growth journey by introducing more innovative products to serve the evolving and diversified needs of our customers.”

Mr. Ankur Kharbanda, Director – Retail Sales, Niva Bupa Health Insurance said, “The Southern market is an important region for Niva Bupa, and our aim is to increase health insurance penetration in the nearby areas. Post the Covid-19 pandemic, the health insurance industry witnessed significant increase in awareness of health insurance and our endeavour is to both raise awareness and provide quality healthcare access through our network hospitals.”

Niva Bupa aims to democratize health insurance by positioning it as an enabler for living a carefree life. To bring its new philosophy to life, Niva Bupa has recently launched a brand campaign – ‘Zindagi Ko Claim Kar Le’ that aims to change the narrative around health insurance while eliminating the fear element often associated with it. With this new campaign, the company has gone deeper in bringing spotlight on the role of health insurance in the life of consumers, partners, advisors, while redefining and recalibrating its purpose, in line with its growth aspirations.