Mumbai: Niva Bupa Health Insurance reported an 89.3% rise in Q4FY26 net profit under IFRS accounting standards to Rs 157.8 crore from Rs 83.4 crore a year ago, while gross written premiums rose 30.4% to Rs 3,123.4 crore.The improvement was aided by lower operating costs, higher investment income, strong retail health premium growth and improving underwriting metrics.The insurer said the improvement in profitability reflects greater efficiency due to the improvement in the combined insurance service ratio. The combined insurance service ratio (expenses on claims and total premiums) increased to 97.4% from 102% a year ago. This was despite the proportion of premium claims rising to 94.5% from 93.2% a year earlier.“The improvement in combined ratio is entirely driven by a 270 basis points reduction in the expense ratio from 39.2% in FY25 to 36.5% in FY26,” said Vishwanath Mahendra, chief financial officer, Niva Bupa Health Insurance. He said this was driven by economies of scale and investments made in technology, analytics and artificial intelligence.The company had automated large parts of its operations, with all new policies obtained through digital channels such as apps and websites and 32.1% of cashless claims are now being auto-adjudicated.Retail health remained the main growth driver. Retail health gross written premiums grew 35% to Rs 6,581.5 crore in FY26, while retail market share increased to 10.1% from 9.4% in FY25. In Q4FY26, retail health market share increased to 10.4% from 9% a year ago.According to Mahendra, there was a clear correlation between affordability and growth in health insurance, as seen in the increase in sales after the removal of GST on health insurance. According to him, while medical inflation was a reality, the trick was in the design of products to cater to different segments.“The same product can be customized for affluent customers in metros and smaller centres, where the cost of treatment is lower. We can have certain riders, certain product features, where we can make the same product affordable through deductibles, co-insurance or limited networks,” Mahendra said.For FY26, gross premiums written increased 27.4% to Rs 9,432.9 crore from Rs 7,406.7 crore in FY25, while annual profit after tax under IFRS increased 80.4% to Rs 366.1 crore from Rs 202.9 crore in FY25. The combined ratio improved 160 basis points to 101.4%, while the average return on net worth increased to 10.7% from 7.4%.Investment income also supported income growth. Aided by growth in assets under management over the past few years, total investment income increased to Rs 613.1 crore in FY2026 from Rs 475.8 crore in FY2025.
