Credit card adoption is rapidly expanding beyond India's major metropolitan areas into Tier-II and Tier-III cities, driven by increasing incomes, digital awareness, and the integration of RuPay credit cards with UPI, according to a new report by SBI Card.
Prudential plc has announced its acquisition of a 75 per cent stake in Bharti Life Insurance for approximately 3,500 crore, a strategic move to secure majority ownership in the Indian life insurance market. This acquisition necessitates Prudential reducing its holding in ICICI Prudential Life Insurance to below 10 per cent.
"Policy sales will be one of the focus areas for the company because looking at the large insurance gap, large number of people being uncovered. The only right way to go is to increase the number of policies," said Amit Jhingran, MD & CEO, SBI Life Insurance.
SBI General Insurance aims to achieve a 10 per cent market share among private and standalone health insurers within approximately five years, up from its current 7.17 per cent, said Naveen Chandra Jha, managing director and chief executive officer, SBI General Insurance.
Major Indian banks, including Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, and RBL Bank, have reported a decline in employee headcount in FY26, attributing the reductions to significant investments in technology and automation yielding productivity gains across operations.
Jio Financial Services and Munich-based Allianz Group have signed a binding agreement to establish a 50:50 joint venture for general and health insurance in India, building on an earlier reinsurance partnership.
IRCTC is expanding its payments arm, IRCTC Payments, to handle transactions across its ticketing platform and tap government clients, aiming to scale its annual payment processing to approximately 1 trillion.
Shares of Indian life insurance companies, particularly SBI Life Insurance and Canara HSBC Life Insurance, saw significant declines after the Department of Financial Services (DFS) secretary, M Nagaraju, stated that banks are being asked to avoid exclusive tie-ups with their own insurance subsidiaries and instead remain neutral.
India's outward foreign direct investment (FDI) saw a significant increase of 27.5 per cent, reaching $7.06 billion in March, primarily driven by a sharp rise in guarantees for overseas units, according to the Reserve Bank of India.
'It is a tradeoff between convenience and fraud prevention.'
The Indian banking sector is projected to experience a steady 9-13 per cent industrial credit growth in the first half of 2026, driven by capital expenditure, infrastructure development, and sectoral demand recovery, according to a Ficci-IBA survey.
HDFC Life Insurance reported a 4 per cent year-on-year increase in net profit to Rs 495.6 crore for Q4FY26, while its parent, HDFC Bank, announced a Rs 1,000 crore preferential share issuance to raise its stake to 50.5 per cent.
Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) has launched two new mobile applications, MyLIC for policyholders and Super Sales Saathi for its sales intermediaries, aiming to enhance digital agility and cater to the younger generation's needs. The apps, part of LIC's DIVE digital transformation platform, offer features like policy management, premium payments, and personalised recommendations.
Indian insurance companies are bracing for reduced profitability in Q4FY26, primarily due to the rationalisation of GST on retail life and health policies, leading to a loss of input tax credit, coupled with volatility in equity markets impacting investment income.
Lenders are actively monitoring gold price volatility, prompting them to ask borrowers for additional gold collateral or partial principal repayment when loan-to-value (LTV) thresholds are breached, particularly for loans disbursed in February.
Despite Iran allowing 'non-hostile vessels' through the Strait of Hormuz, marine insurance premiums are expected to remain elevated due to persistent high-risk classifications and ongoing geopolitical tensions, with experts cautioning that the threat of attacks and collateral damage still exists.
Loans against gold jewellery in India surged by an impressive 128 per cent year-on-year to nearly 4.28 trillion in February 2026, according to the latest Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data, significantly outpacing overall retail loan growth.
Following a ban on real-money gaming, Dream Sports, the parent company of Dream11, is strategically expanding its portfolio across 11 companies, including a new venture into wealth management and stockbroking, with a focus on serving a mass user base through AI-first solutions, cofounder Harsh Jain confirmed.
Remittances from West Asia in March rose sharply amid the conflict in the region, with industry insiders estimating inflows to be 20-30 per cent higher than what is usual in a month.
New business premium of life insurance companies grew 18 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) to Rs 35,417 crore in February, driven by robust growth at the state-owned Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) due to a favourable base.
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