The Bima Sugam India Federation (BSIF), the entity steering the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI)'s electronic marketplace Bima Sugam, has launched its official website. The launch, which occurred on Wednesday, September 17, 2025, marks a significant stride in constructing India's pioneering digital public infrastructure (DPI) for insurance.

Bima Sugam: A Digital Public Infrastructure for Insurance

IRDAI Chairman Ajay Seth unveiled the website at the IRDAI headquarters in Hyderabad, with industry leaders, senior IRDAI officials, and the Bima Sugam leadership team in attendance. Seth stated that Bima Sugam represents a critical step in creating India's DPI for insurance. He also expressed confidence that with the collective commitment of the industry, the vision of "Insurance for All by 2047" would become a reality as part of the Prime Minister's mission of Viksit Bharat 2047.

The Bima Sugam platform's rollout will follow a phased approach to ensure the highest levels of security, compliance, and scalability. The marketplace will progressively go live with real transactions as insurers and ecosystem partners complete the necessary integrations over the coming months, in line with the board-approved roadmap. According to an Economic Times report, the website is expected to be fully operational by December 2025.

What is Bima Sugam?

Bima Sugam is a unified digital marketplace designed to bring insurers, intermediaries, and customers onto a single platform. It will allow users to easily buy, sell, service, renew, manage, and claim insurance policies with complete transparency. All policy documents will be securely stored on the platform.

Bima Sugam will function as a common infrastructure that benefits all stakeholders, similar to how UPI and NPCI function for digital payments. All insurance companies are members of the system, and the charges for using the platform will be minimal.

Benefits of Bima Sugam

Bima Sugam aims to streamline insurance accessibility across India. It is designed to be a comprehensive hub that facilitates the purchase, renewal, and management of various insurance policies.

The platform is expected to offer several advantages:

• Transparency: Simplified structure and clear terms of Bima Sugam policies will enhance transparency.
• Accessibility: Bima Sugam will serve individuals who struggle with the complexities of conventional insurance products, making insurance more readily available to a broader demographic.
• Convenience: The streamlined nature of the Bima Sugam platform will make the purchase process simpler and quicker.
• Reduced costs: Bima Sugam may reduce the commissions paid to intermediaries, potentially lowering the cost of insurance.
• Process efficiencies: A one-time KYC process for opening e-IA accounts on the platform will ensure that this doesn't have to be repeated each time while buying a new policy.
• No loss of data: The platform will dematerialize insurance policies and allied processes.
• Single window mechanism: The platform will provide a single window for hosting, sale, servicing, and claim settlements for all sorts of insurance policies.

Offerings on the Platform

The platform will offer a wide and diverse range of insurance products:

• Life insurance, including term plans, savings products, annuity and pension plans, and ULIP products.
• Health insurance options to address a full range of medical and wellness needs.
• Motor insurance, covering both third-party liability and own-damage policies.

Statements from Industry Leaders

Industry leaders have welcomed the launch of the Bima Sugam website. Tapan Singhel, MD and CEO of Bajaj Allianz General Insurance and Chairman of the General Insurance Council, said that the launch marks a historic step towards making insurance simple, seamless, and accessible to every Indian. He added that it demonstrates what the industry can achieve through collaboration. Rakesh Joshi, Chairperson of BSIF, stated that the website launch is the first visible step towards building an inclusive, seamless, and technology-driven insurance ecosystem for the country. Prasun Sikdar, MD & CEO of BSIF, said that the Bima Sugam website is the authentic gateway for the public and the industry and represents the first milestone in transforming insurance access and transparency for every Indian household.