Sanjay Radhakrishnan, chief executive officer (CEO) of EDME Insurance Brokers Ltd, said the country’s reinsurance market is “doing well”, driven by rising insurance penetration and deepening underlying risk pools in the country.
Speaking to Reinsurance News, Radhakrishnan said demand has risen in recent years in specialty and infrastructure-related sectors such as insurance, energy, liquidity and technology, complementing traditional real estate, auto and health portfolios.
Radhakrishnan explained that, at the same time, regulatory reforms at the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) and the establishment of a dedicated reinsurance framework within India’s first operational smart city, Gujarat International Fintech City (GIFT City) under the International Financial Services Center Authority (IFSCA), have broadened market participation and provided a clearer operational path for domestic and international players.
“These shifts have fostered greater competition, broader access to capacity and greater technology participation across the market,” he said. “While natural disaster risks and pricing pressures persist in some areas, the overall trajectory points to a maturing ecosystem with increasing complexity and depth of analysis.”
Radhakrishnan believes inbound treaty reinsurance is critical to India’s goal of becoming a global reinsurance hub as it contributes significantly to the country’s long-term position in global risk markets.
“By underwriting selected third country risks through onshore and IFSC platforms, India can diversify its risk base and build depth in underwriting, actuarial and analytical capabilities that are hallmarks of established reinsurance hubs. Inward treaty flows also help retain local premiums, technical skills and service ecosystem, strengthening GIFT City Development as a regional platform. While this remains an evolving area, sustained and well-managed inward treaty engagement can support India’s ambitions to progressively transition from a large domestic reinsurance market to a recognized contributor in the regional and international risk transfer space,” he said.
The regulatory environment in India is primarily regulated by IRDAI, which the CEO describes as “a thoughtful balance between supporting market development and safeguarding policyholder protection”.
“On the one hand, several enabling measures have broadened participation and capabilities: recognition of foreign reinsurance branches and Lloyd’s of India, setting up of IFSC insurance offices in GIFT City under IFSCA and increasing foreign insurance investment caps, which together have led to a clearer operational architecture and enhanced global participation. The regulatory framework also recognizes the growing relevance of alternative risk transfer solutions such as parametric structures and is in line with India’s expanding economic footprint, rising infrastructure investments and deepening insurance needs.” Radhakrishnan.
“Certain features of the framework, such as prioritization, mandatory reinsurance requirements and collateral expectations for certain cross-border placements, continue to prioritize domestic capacity and retention. These provisions are likely to impact the way reinsurers operating in India calibrate capital costs, pricing and operating assumptions.
“Overall, the regulatory approach can be seen as encouraging capacity expansion, innovation and international alignment, while ensuring a phased and orderly development of resilience in domestic markets. As the market develops, ongoing dialogue among stakeholders is likely to continue to refine the balance between retaining domestic risk and integrating more deeply into global reinsurance markets,” he added.
As India’s reinsurance market continues to mature, Radhakrishnan highlighted the growing interest in parametric and structured plans as organizations seek to provide more predictable protection against increasingly complex and climate-related risks.
Radhakrishnan explains: “Multi-line and multi-year structures can provide continuity and reduce renewal volatility for cedants and reinsurers, although they require rigorous modeling, clear contract wording and consistency with accounting and regulatory considerations. While traditional indemnity structures will continue to play a central role, the market’s growing familiarity with these alternatives suggests they may become an important complement, particularly in managing secondary, infrastructure and climate-sensitive risks.”
Looking ahead to emerging risks or trends that may shape the Indian reinsurance market in 2026, Radhakrishnan pointed out that climate-related secondary disasters, including heat stress and urban flooding, are affecting underwriting strategies, stressing that such risks directly prompt the improvement of catastrophe models and a greater emphasis on resilience-oriented products.
He continued, “As digitization accelerates, cyber risks continue to evolve, with aggregate and systemic risks becoming increasingly important. Infrastructure developments are driving demand for guarantees and performance-related insurance, while electric vehicles and renewable energy are introducing changing loss patterns with limited historical data. Together, these trends suggest that specialized product lines, analytics-driven pricing and product innovation will play an increasingly important role during this period as data availability increases and technology expertise deepens across the market.”
Finally, we asked Radhakrishnan what he sees as the biggest challenges and opportunities for buyers and sellers over the next three to five years.
“For cedants, enhanced risk data, claims governance and portfolio segmentation may be central to guiding underwriting discipline and optimizing access to capabilities. For reinsurers, capital availability, pricing cycles and changing climate and network patterns may impact portfolio strategies, while structured and hybrid solutions can create pathways to differentiation. For all For stakeholders, India’s long-term growth and ambition to significantly expand insurance access offer meaningful opportunities, provided market players continue to improve technological capabilities, develop India-specific models, and invest in talent and technology. Regulatory evolution, when combined with rigorous underwriting and data-driven practices, can help support sustainable market development in the coming years.”
