Belgium’s Ageas Insurance is prepared to invest additional capital in India to break into the country’s top 10 life insurers in the next three to four years, provided returns on equity remain favourable.
“If the growth is there and the return on equity is good, we will be there with the capital,” Ageas Insurance’s global CEO Hans De Cuyper, who is in India, told Mint. “On the life (insurance) side, we have expressed the intention to become top 10. And I understand that will require a bit more capital in the market, and we have that available.”
In India, Ageas operates in the life insurance space through its venture with Federal Bank–Ageas Federal Life Insurance where it holds 70% stake; and in the general insurance space through its partnership with Sundaram Finance–Royal Sundaram General Insurance where it holds 40% stake.
Ageas, which raised its stake after India allowed 74% FDI in the insurance sector, said the group is “happy” with its Indian partners and would rather understand and develop the local businesses with them than increase its shareholding further to 100%.
“…you could have control in an entity, but if you are not aligned with your partner, the business will not go well,” he said, adding that the group remains open to picking up more stake in the businesses.
Growth in life insurance is being driven largely by its partner Federal Bank, which accounts for 70% of the insurer’s policy distribution. “Today, we are number 12 in the market. We believe that with the partnership we have, we should aspire to become top 10,” he said, adding that the company is open to inorganic opportunities for this.
Non-life, health growth
Ageas is taking a more measured approach in general insurance, focusing on profitability over market share at Royal Sundaram General Insurance, which ranks 15th in the space.
Cuyper is cautious about growing the health insurance book significantly, despite it being the fastest growing segment in the Indian insurance market. “We need to keep focus on the profitability of that segment. We are not a group that manages the topline, we are a group that manages the bottom line,” he said.
Within health, the insurer plans to contain its exposure to certain segments that are more profitable such as corporate health policies and small and medium enterprises; outside of health the focus will be on segments that are doing well for the insurer such as own motor damage, third party liability and home insurance, he added.
“There are segments in there, but it is a tough market because pricing is sometimes controlled. You need negotiation power with your hospitals. So, if there is one market I would say where you ‘go in or big or you stay out’ it's healthcare.”
In the first half of FY26, Royal Sundaram reported profit after tax of ₹100 crore and an annualised RoE of 11%.
Curbing bancassurance
On the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) proposing tighter rules around sale of third-party products by banks, Cuyper said curbing such sales is not the right approach and insurance commission is an integral part of banks’ interest income.
RBI, in February 2026, issued a draft framework on the sale of third-party products, including insurance policies, targeting mis-selling, bundled sales, and even “dark patterns” in banking apps, redrawing the boundaries of how banks sell such products.
Mint had reported that the banking industry is estimated to earn ₹22,000-25,000 crore annually from bancassurance, the partnership model that allows insurers to sell their products to a bank’s customers.
" We have seen in a financial crisis, if a bank is highly interest rate sensitive, it's not good for the stability of a bank. A good bank has a good balance with fee business and insurance is a big component in the fee business,” Cuyper said, adding that bancassurance is thus important not just for insurance companies but also a “big benefit” for banks. “I think (this) should be further developed to stabilise the whole financial system”.
Asked if Ageas Federal’s distribution will be impacted by the rules, Cuyper said the company is also looking to diversify its distribution beyond Federal Bank and focus on other banks within bancassurance and grow the agency and digital channels.
“Federal, other banks and agency: these are the three main focus areas,” he said, adding that the insurer also has 50-60 digital partnerships but that the volumes from these channels is currently “very small” and the market is taking time to pick up. “…we will make sure that we can be present in as many distribution points as we can.”