Top Indian Insurance Industry News & Updates - 18 March 2026,Wednesday
🏭 Industry
Govt to help address war surcharge, freight insurance issues
The Ministry of Shipping has assured freighters and exporters to help address the challenges arising due to high war surcharges, even as the ports have been instructed to waive off handling, infrastructure, or imbalance charges for the next 30-days for the export containers stuck there.
Group insurance payouts not deductible from motor accident compensation: SC
The Karnataka High Court later set aside these deductions. The transport corporation and insurer challenged these rulings in the Supreme Court, arguing that such benefits should be adjusted against the compensation, and a claimant should not gain twice from the same accident. The core issue before the Court was whether amounts received through group insurance could be deducted from compensation awarded under the Motor Vehicles Act.
Government to expand insurance coverage to 25,000 gram panchayats: Nirmala Sitharaman
New Delhi: The central government is set to extend insurance coverage to 25,000 gram panchayats as part of a targeted push to deepen insurance market penetration in rural areas. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, while speaking in the Lok Sabha, emphasized that the gram panchayat will now serve as the focal unit of measurement for rural obligations and coverage.
Bima Sugam to launch standardised products in life, health, motor segments
Govt to expedite maritime insurer plan amid rising West Asia conflict
📝 Public Insurance Registry a key step in modernising information architecture of insurance: IRDAI Chief Seth
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🗎 Life Insurance
Tata AIA launches term plan to shield families from education loan debt
Tata AIA Life Insurance has introduced a student-focused term insurance plan designed to protect families from the burden of education loan repayments in the event of a student’s untimely death. The product is offered as an additional feature under the company’s existing Tata AIA Sampoorna Raksha Promise plan.
SBI Life-owned NBFC successfully closes $15 million ECB issue. Details here
SBI Life-owned NBFC stock: SBI Life-owned non-banking financial company (NBFC), Paisalo Digital, informed investors through an exchange filing today, March 17, that it had successfully raised funds through an External Commercial Borrowing (ECB) transaction amounting to USD 15 million.
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🗎 General Insurance
📝 Navi enters motor insurance with zero-commission digital plans
📝 Motor Insurance: Moving Beyond Compliance to Practical Protection
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🗎 Health Insurance
Health insurance priority for government, to cover all by 2033: Nirmala Sitharaman
Health insurance priority for govt, all to get cover by 2033: FM
Health coaching lowers preventable insurance costs, ABHI research shows
GST cut lifts health insurance premiums to record in FY26
India’s non-life insurers have reported their highest-ever health insurance premium collections in the current fiscal, as a sharp cut in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) has boosted demand for retail health insurance across the industry. The general insurance industry has collected ₹1.24 lakh crore in health insurance premiums in the first eleven months of the current fiscal, already surpassing the ₹1.18 lakh crore recorded in the entire FY25.
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🏦 SEBI
Sebi proposes easing nomination norms for demat accounts, MF folios
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Tuesday proposed easing nomination norms for demat accounts and mutual fund folios to simplify investor onboarding and reduce compliance friction.
Sebi proposes to reinstate the use of PoA for incapacitated investor accounts
In a consultation paper issued on Tuesday, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) proposed to allow the power of attorney (PoA) holder to operate the investor’s account/folio in situations where the investor is physically incapacitated, but has the capacity to contract.
📝 Standard Chartered settles Sebi case for ₹57.2 lakh over FPI norms
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🗎 Pension Funds/PF
EPS update: Any change in ₹1,000 pension? Labour minister explains
EPFO 3.0 Update: Govt shares progress on centralised pension system, auto claim settlement, EPF transfer claims, check details
The government has shared a detailed update on reforms under EPFO 3.0 in Lok Sabha, highlighting key developments such as expansion in its subscriber base, faster claim settlement, and the status of pension-related proposals. Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Shobha Karandlaje, outlined the progress made under EPFO 3.0, including simplified processes and progress on employment-linked schemes.
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🗎 Mutual Funds / AMCs
SBI Mutual Fund picks up 4% stake in Urban Company via bulk deals
SBI Mutual Fund has bought a 4% stake in home services marketplace Urban Company through bulk deals executed on Tuesday, CNBC TV-18 reported. The fund house has acquired 3.5 crore shares on the NSE, with each share priced at an average of ₹109.85 apiece, while it acquired another 2.2 crore shares on the BSE at a price of ₹109.83 per share.
Silver is like a small-cap stock, not an asset class: ICICI Pru Mutual Fund’s Sankaran Naren cautions investors
Sankaran Naren, Executive Director and Chief Investment Officer of ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund, has cautioned investors against treating silver as a long-term asset class, saying the white metal behaves more like a small-cap stock and carries significantly higher risk.
Small mutual fund distributors warn of income hit, urge Sebi to revisit expense rules
Mumbai: A new expense ratio rule from India’s market regulator could cut the income of small mutual fund distributors (MFDs) by as much as a fifth, prompting an industry body to warn of an uneven playing field.
Fund of funds emerges as workaround to Sebi’s AIF cap of 1,000 investors
India’s alternative investment funds (AIFs) are increasingly launching fund of funds (FoF) to work around the market regulator’s cap on the number of investors, which aims to prevent them from becoming too large and resembling mass retail products like mutual funds.
Good time for investors to accumulate more units: DSP Mutual Fund CEO
India's equity market has been under significant pressure amid the war and the IT meltdown. As a fund house, how do you maximise returns in such times?
MFs invested big in private lenders in February, pared holdings in SBI
Retail investors slow fresh investments, but aren't withdrawing: HSBC MF
UTI Pension Fund pivots to bonds after equity spree
📝 Parag Parikh awarded best flexicap fund, Edelweiss MF is best asset manager: Morningstar Awards
📝 Accumulate quality stocks gradually as valuations turn attractive: Sanjay H Parekh, Founder & CIO, Sohum Asset Managers
📝 Diversified funds like flexicap and multicap best route in current volatility: Tata AMC’s Chandraprakash Padiyar
📝 Kotak plans $2 billion private credit fund as demand rises
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🗎 Equities, Pvt. Equity / Hedge Funds
📝 L Catterton doubles down on India, warns against ‘growth at any price’ bets
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🗎 Govt Securities / Bonds
State Bank of India raises over Rs 6,000 crore through Tier 2 bonds at 7.05%
State Bank of India (SBI), the country’s largest lender, on Tuesday raised Rs 6,051 crore at a coupon rate of 7.05 per cent through its second Basel III-compliant Tier 2 bond issuance for the current financial year (FY26).
Union Bank lines up maiden ₹7,500 crore infra bond issue
Mumbai: A day after securing board approval to raise ₹20,000 crore via infrastructure bonds, Union Bank of India announced its plans to issue the first ₹7,500 crore tranche of 10-year bonds on Friday, three merchant bankers told Mint.
Funds mobilised by India Inc via ECBs crossed $5 billion mark for the first time in current FY in Jan
Funds mobilised by India Inc via the external commercial borrowing (ECB) route vaulted over the $5 billion mark for the first time in the current financial year in January 2026 amid marginal cost of funds-based lending rate (MCLR) amid hardening domestic bond yields.
RBI fixes redemption price of ₹15,814 for SGB
📝 India bonds unchanged as elevated oil, heavy state supply keep up pressure
📝 JSW Steel's unit plans fundraise via masala bonds
📝 Retail participation in G-Secs picks up; secondary market volumes jump 3.7 times in a year: RBI data
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