Author: Aruna Kaim

An independent study by management consulting firm Praxis Global Alliance reveals a stark reality for India’s ₹3.1 lakh crore ($34 billion) general insurance industry: despite celebrating a decade of 11% annual growth, scale has failed to bring structural profitability. While the sector expanded rapidly—with health and motor insurance making up over 70% of total premiums—the core business of insuring risks remains deeply unprofitable. Indian insurers are currently surviving on investment returns rather than efficient underwriting. The Metric That Tells the Story: Combined Ratios The primary gauge of an insurance company’s operational health is its combined ratio—the sum of its underwriting…

Amid skyrocketing medical inflation and escalating hospital bills, insurance companies have increasingly turned to a powerful marketing buzzword: “unlimited.” Promised in flashy brochures as “unlimited restore,” “unlimited recharge,” or “unlimited cover,” these policies pitch the ultimate safety net—suggesting that no matter how major a claim is, the policy will instantly refill itself. However, industry experts warn that the word “unlimited” is almost always bound by strict technical conditions buried deep within the policy’s clauses. The Reality of “Unlimited” Restoration In practice, a truly unrestricted, unconditional unlimited policy does not exist. Instead, “unlimited” typically refers to the number of times a…

The traditional, broker-dependent model of selling insurance is keeping consumer costs high and crushing corporate profit margins.According to a comprehensive sector report by Praxis Global Alliance, the general insurance industry’s expense ratios remain structurally elevated because of intense competition among insurers to win over intermediary mindshare and wallet share. This friction prevents the industry from achieving natural economies of scale, making customer renewals almost as expensive as acquiring entirely new policyholders. The Renewal Dilemma: Why Cost Compounding Fails In a healthy financial services model, the initial cost to acquire a customer is high, but subsequent renewals should cost next to…

The Indian rupee clawed its way back from the edge of historical lows, posting a sharp 18 paise recovery to trade at 96.18 against the US dollar in early Friday sessions. The breath of fresh air for the local currency comes on the back of a mild pullback in international crude oil benchmarks, glimmers of diplomatic progress in the West Asia conflict, and highly visible defense maneuvers by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The recovery builds on an impressive late-Thursday session, where the local currency dramatically rebounded 50 paise from its worst-ever closing level to settle at 96.36. The…

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is drawing a firm line in the sand on monetary policy. Despite the Indian rupee tumbling nearly 6% since the onset of the West Asia conflict and touching an all-time intraday low of 96.96 per USD, the central bank is firmly rejecting market pressure to use interest rate hikes as a primary currency defense tool. According to sources close to the central bank’s thinking, Governor Sanjay Malhotra’s rate-setting panel will prioritize domestic inflation control and economic growth over managing the exchange rate when it meets for its policy announcement on June 5, 2026. The…

With the Indian rupee slumping to an historic record low of nearly 97 per USD, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), under Governor Sanjay Malhotra, is facing its steepest currency defense challenge in over a decade. Spurred by aggressive global foreign portfolio investment (FPI) outflows and escalating energy import bills from the West Asia conflict, the central bank is quietly reviewing past emergency playbooks—specifically the 2013 Taper Tantrum strategy—to halt a dangerous depreciation spiral. The immediate priority for policymakers is to break the self-fulfilling negative feedback loop: a weakening rupee prompts importers and traders to aggressively hedge, which drives the…

India’s foreign exchange cushion faced a sharp drawdown as intensifying macroeconomic headwinds and geopolitical friction continued to strain emerging market assets. According to the latest weekly statistical supplement released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the nation’s total forex reserves slid by $8.094 billion, settling at $688.894 billion for the week ended May 15. The heavy contraction completely erases the modest $6.295 billion recovery achieved during the previous week and brings the reserve pool down to its fourth-lowest level since the start of the year. Tracking the Trajectory: From Peak to Defense The current pressure on the rupee is…

Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), the country’s largest state-owned oil marketing firm, has issued a strong reassurance to the public stating that there is no nationwide fuel shortage for petrol or diesel. Addressing recent reports of dry pumps at specific retail outlets, the energy giant classified these disruptions as highly localized, temporary bottlenecks rather than a structural supply crisis. The company emphasized that overall inventories remain entirely sufficient nationwide, with state-owned Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) actively rebalancing logistics to ensure uninterrupted flows. The Root Cause: Shifting Demand Dynamics Rather than a shortfall in fuel production or crude availability, IOC explained that…

Swiggy’s long-term operational roadmap for its quick commerce vertical, Instamart, hit a major structural roadblock. The Bengaluru-based food and grocery delivery pioneer failed to secure the necessary public market shareholder approval to amend its Articles of Association (AoA)—a critical administrative milestone required for the company to transition into an Indian Owned and Controlled Company (IOCC). The special resolution fell short by a narrow but decisive margin, securing 72.36% of shareholder support, below the mandatory 75% legal threshold required for passing. The Voting Breakdown and Board Room Rejection The defeat exposes an unexpected rift between Swiggy’s pre-IPO backers and public market…

Institutional trust is returning to India’s premier fintech major. In a massive block deal executed on the BSE, marquee global financial powerhouses—including Goldman Sachs, Societe Generale, and Citigroup Global Markets—collectively acquired a 1.34% equity stake in One 97 Communications (Paytm’s parent entity) for ₹963.60 crore. The shares were purchased from long-time early backers SAIF Partners and Elevation Capital, marking a major transition from private equity to institutional public market ownership. Breakdown of the Block Deal The open-market transactions saw a massive absorption of shares by both international and domestic institutional investors (DIIs), signaling a strong consensus on Paytm’s post-restructuring growth…