India’s life insurance industry has intensified efforts to strengthen financial resilience with the launch of a Consumer Awareness Comic Book Series by Shri Ajay Seth, Chairman of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI), as part of the broader vision of “Insurance for All.” Unveiled on National Insurance Awareness Day, the initiative seeks to simplify life insurance concepts and improve financial literacy, addressing one of the key structural challenges limiting insurance penetration in the country.
Developed around relatable stories featuring a young life insurance advisor named Supriya, the comic series explains concepts such as the Married Women’s Property (MWP) Act, Waiver of Premium (WoP) and Critical Illness riders in an easy-to-understand format. Industry leaders believe improving consumer understanding is essential to narrowing India’s life insurance protection gap, estimated at 87 per cent overall and above 90 per cent among individuals aged 18-35.
ShriKamleshRao, Chairperson of the Insurance Awareness Committee-Life (IAC-Life), said financial preparedness is fundamental to India’s long-term economic resilience and highlighted the progress of the second phase of the ‘SabsePehle Life Insurance’ campaign. ShriAditya Gupta, Secretary General of the Life Insurance Council, said storytelling can make insurance conversations more accessible and strengthen consumer trust.
The launch also featured the panel discussion “India Asks: Why Prioritize Life Insurance?” with KamleshRao, M. Doraiswamy, Managing Director, LIC, Sameer Bansal, MD & CEO, PNB MetLife, and Rushabh Gandhi, MD & CEO, IndiaFirst Life Insurance, moderated by financial journalist Sonia Shenoy.
The awareness initiative comes as the life insurance sector continues to expand. During FY26, the industry reported a 15.7 per cent year-on-year increase in New Business Premium (NBP) while issuing more than 2.83 crore policies. Despite this growth, industry leaders observed that insurance penetration has not kept pace with India’s economic progress, making sustained investments in awareness, trust-building and financial education critical for achieving universal financial protection.
