The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has issued a certificate of registration to Prudential HCL Health Insurance, permitting the company to write health cover nationally.
This is the third registration IRDAI has granted in 2026 and lifts the number of standalone health insurers in the country to eight, a field led by Star Health and Allied Insurance – the first such insurer, founded in 2006, and the largest by premium – alongside established specialists including Niva Bupa Health Insurance and Care Health Insurance, according to IMARC Group.
Health is now the single largest segment within India’s non-life market, contributing 41.4% of gross direct premiums, with premiums underwritten by general and health insurers reaching INR1.175 trillion in 2024-25, a rise of 9.19% over the prior year, according to Observer Research Foundation, citing the IRDAI Annual Report 2024-25.
Capital continues to enter that segment even as the regulator examines how it prices, pays claims, and treats policyholders.
Prudential HCL is a joint venture in which Prudential Group Holdings Limited, a UK subsidiary of FTSE 100-listed Prudential plc, holds 70%, and Vama Sundari Investments (Delhi), a promoter company of India’s HCL Group, holds the remaining 30%.
The business is to be led by CEO-designate Amar Joshi, subject to regulatory approval.
The health venture is one part of a wider reshaping of Prudential’s India operations rather than a standalone move.
The company describes India as “a key strategic market for Prudential,” having opened its first branch in Kolkata in 1923 and offered life cover through ICICI Prudential Life since 2001, in which it retains a holding of about 22%, reported Insurance Business.