Expression of Interest for Assessing Market Gaps and Strategic Opportunities for Insurance in India The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, is a global leader, investor, and advisor dedicated to reducing extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity in developing member countries. IFC finances private sector investments, mobilizes capital in international financial markets, enhances clients social and environmental sustainability, and provides advisory services to businesses and governments in the developing world, with a strong emphasis on the financial sector as a catalyst for development across all industries. Through its Financial Institutions Group (FIG), IFC supports financial inclusion, realeconomy financing, and capital mobilization, including in South Asia, by working with local financial institutions to develop innovative, inclusive, and sustainable financial solutions As part of its broader engagement in the financial sector, insurance is a focus area for IFC in India because of its critical role in promoting financial inclusion, resilience, and economic stability. IFC seeks a firm/ consortium of firms to conduct deep dives into specific insurance segments and to develop both a value proposition and a diagnostic toolkit to support future interventions. Project Background: India is poised to become one of the worlds largest insurance markets, with gross written premiums exceeding USD 140 billion and strong growth prospects driven by demographic scale, rising incomes, digital innovation, and heightened risk awareness following the COVID-19 pandemic. Alongside digital public infrastructure, policy measures -including the Union Budget 202526 decision to raise the foreign direct investment (FDI) cap to 100 percent - underscore the Government of Indias commitment to deepening and modernizing the sector. Despite this positive trajectory, insurance penetration in India remains low and uneven. Total insurance penetration stands at approximately 3.7 percent of GDP, well below the global average, with life insurance at 2.8 percent and non-life insurance at just 0.9 percent. Large segments of the population and economy remain unprotected: an estimated 550650 million individuals lack adequate coverage; nearly 90 percent of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) are uninsured; fewer than 10 percent of farmers are effectively insured; and only about a quarter of older adults are covered by formal pension plans or retirement income products, with coverage largely limited to government-supported schemes and limited penetration of annuity-based or private retirement solutions. Although India has a diverse insurance ecosystem, existing products and distribution models often fail to reach underserved segments. Limited customization, high transaction costs, data and underwriting constraints, and weaknesses in claims management have constrained the viability of insurance solutions for women, MSMEs, smallholder farmers, older populations, and climate-vulnerable communities. Additionally, penetration of insurance has been impacted by low trust factor, reflected by low persistency ratio (or renewal rates) due to several factors including low quality of service delivery, particularly around claims management. Emerging models such as parametric insurance, embedded insurance, and inclusive insurance remain at an early stage and require further market development and institutional capacity building. IFC is undertaking a comprehensive assessment of Indias insurance sector with a focus on underserved segments such as agriculture, MSMEs, women, the silver market, and climate-related risks. This initiative aims to deepen market understanding, support improved access and innovation, and develop practical tools to assess and benchmark insurance providers to enable IFC to identify investment and advisory opportunities to support insurance companies. Scope of Work: An Overview IFC seeks to engage a firm or consortium to provide a structured, evidence-based assessment of the insurance sector, identify protection gaps across priority segments, develop a value proposition and a diagnostic tool to assess and benchmark insurance providers. The assignment is expected to be completed over a nine-month period and will comprise six core components, described below. The components are not sequential, and firms may propose an approach to cover these areas based on their experience and methodology. Firms are also encouraged to propose an alternative timeline for deliverables if required, aligned with the overall scope of work. A. Segment Deep Dives The segment deep dives will conduct detailed, state-level analyses across priority insurance segmentslivestock, agriculture, MSMEs, silver (elderly), climate-related risks, and womenwith special attention to key states such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, and others. For each segment, the work will evaluate market size, penetration, customer profiles, risk characteristics, provider landscape, distribution and claims management practices, and identify cross-segment overlaps. It will assess gaps in protection, unmet needs, and barriers to uptake (including affordability, awareness, regulatory issues, and trust), and use case studies from India and global markets to highlight effective and ineffective approaches. The analysis will identify actionable opportunities to address gaps, especially for the missing middle, and propose segment-specific product features, delivery channels, and digital solutions, culminating in practical recommendations and validation workshops. B. Stakeholder Consultations This component involves structured consultations with at least 15 stakeholders, including insurance companies, third-party administrators, brokers, reinsurers, the regulator (IRDAI), and other market participants. The aim is to map roles, responsibilities, and operational bottlenecks across the insurance value chain, assess operational challenges such as claim settlement and customer experience, and understand insurer priorities and engagement across segments. The consultations will also gauge readiness for digital transformation and partnerships with insurtechs and technology platforms, informing targeted market development and identifying coverage gaps. C. Regulatory Assessment The regulatory assessment will review the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of Indias (IRDAI) strategic objectives, sector priorities, growth projections, and anticipated reforms, with a focus on expanding coverage in underserved segments, boosting customer trust, and promoting digital transformation. It will examine the scalability and suitability of IRDAI-approved products, link regulatory bottlenecks and enablers to proposed solutions, and include a market-led scan of insurance products and models (both IRDAI and non-IRDAI), ensuring recommendations are feasible and aligned with deep dive insights. D. Value Proposition This task will develop an evidence-based value proposition for IFC tailored to each priority segment, including livestock insurance within agriculture, based on validated market needs and stakeholder input. It will also consider cross-segment synergies, proposing integrated solutions where relevant (such as climate-linked agricultural MSMEs or livestock-based rural enterprises), to inform IFCs investment and advisory approach. E. Diagnostic Tool Development A modular diagnostic tool (digital or toolkit format) will be designed and developed to assess insurance companies current state and benchmark their performance against local and global best practices. The tool will include modules on products, distribution, and channels, with defined metrics and scoring frameworks, and allow for segment-level benchmarking and cross-segment tagging. The tool will be tested with a sample of insurance companies, and its scope will be refined based on findings from the deep dives in consultation with the IFC team. F. Pipeline Development This component will focus on identifying and prioritizing a pipeline of insurers and InsurTech players with the potential to pilot and scale solutions. It will also outline suitable engagement models for IFC to support implementation and drive scale. The deliverables for this assignment include an Inception Report outlining the detailed workplan, methodology, and stakeholder engagement, as well as the refined scope for deep dives into priority insurance segments. This will be followed by a comprehensive Market Assessment Report, which will analyse the insurance landscape, regulatory context, and state-level segment insights, focusing on areas such as agriculture, MSMEs, the silver segment, climate, and women, and will provide market sizing and recommendations. Additionally, an evidence-based Value Proposition will be developed for IFC, tailored to priority segments and highlighting a pipeline of potential clients. A modular Diagnostic Tool will also be delivered to benchmark insurance companies against best practices, with specific modules for segment-level assessments. Finally, the findings will be disseminated through workshops or roundtables towards the end of the engagement period. A firm/ entity may associate with other qualified firms to enhance their technical capability in addressing the requirements outlined in this scope of work. If proposing a consortium, the lead firm must clearly define the submission requirements. The lead firm will be awarded the contract and will serve as the main point of contact for producing the deliverables described in this TOR. The roles and responsibilities of each partner in the consortium must be clearly defined in their proposals. Tender Link : https://wbgeprocure-rfxnow.worldbank.org/rfxnow/public/advertisement/6736/view.html
