With health insurance expected to grow 50% annually, several specialized health insurance companies are waiting to launch business in India. The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) has said that there are several specialized companies looking to set shop in India.

Already two specialized companies — Apollo DKV Health Insurance and Star Allied Health Insurance have received permission from the IRDA to do business in India. Another French insurer BUPA is understood to be in advanced talks.

Speaking on the sidelines of the First Health Insurance Summit organized by CII, Rao told reporters that health insurance was expected to continue growing at 50% making it the fastest growing business.

This growth is despite the fact that most insurance companies have been complaining of the lack of profits in this line of activity. At the same time the number of consumer complaints is the highest in health insurance.

According to Mr Rao, the premium collected under health insurance was only about Rs 600 crore when he took over as chairman of the regulatory body in 2003. Whereas, during 2006-07 the premium collection was about Rs 3,200 crore, having grown 35% over the previous year. The figures for 2007-08 have so far not been released but are expected to be well over Rs 4,000 crore.

“The health insurance business is likely to grow by about 50% per an-num,” he said. Rao, who is close to completing his tenure as chairman of IRDA said: “The health insurance segment has been growing much more than the overall general insurance industry and collection of premium of health insurance now accounts for about 16-17% of the total collection of the general insurance industry.”

He, however, pointed out that the overall penetration made by the industry segment is still low. At present, there are quite a few players offering health insurance and the IRDA chairman indicated that a few more are planning to enter the sector.

Referring to the high claim ratio witnessed by health insurance companies, he said the ratio could come down if the volume of business goes up. Besides, he felt if the health policies are sold to different age groups, particularly young, the claim ratio could go down.