SUMMARY
Despite being one of the most promising markets, India’s insurance penetration is well below the global average of 7%
Fintech SaaS platform Finhaat is simplifying the distribution of insurance and other financial products for India’s rural and semi-urban population
About 70% of its insurance revenue comes from curated products, 15% from retail insurance and the rest from niche agri-focussed offerings
On a sweltering afternoon, an Indian farmer stares at his parched, cracked field. Months of effort have been undone due to an erratic monsoon. Elsewhere, relentless downpours trigger floods that wipe out crops before they can be harvested. Farmers today are aware of crop insurance against natural calamities and pestilence. But despite many such schemes like the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, few are fully prepared to fall back on those policies when disasters strike.
In many cases, errors in claim filing and/or inadequate documents hinder the process. It is the same story for millions of farmers across rural India. This is not surprising.
Although India is projected to emerge as the third-largest economy by 2028, growing to $5.7 Tn, per a Morgan Stanley report, its insurance penetration dipped for a second consecutive year to 3.7% in FY24, about half the global average of 7%. However, insurance premiums rose 7.7% to INR 11.2 Lakh Cr, according to the Economic Survey 2024-25, indicating that the demand exists for the safety net of financial protection, but the ground-level distribution does not. The reasons: A fragmented market, low awareness and a glut of complex financial products failing to cater to the masses, especially rural consumers.
Founded in 2021 by three alumni of the Institute of Rural Management (IRMA) — Vinod Singh, Sandeep Katiyar and Navneet Srivastava — Mumbai-based fintech startup Finhaat aims to bridge that gap. The founding team, veterans who had earlier worked for storied companies such as Avendus, HSBC, Aditya Birla Insurance and Future Generali, quickly realised that the rural fintech story had so far been dominated by credit. Lending platforms and agri-fintechs stepped into the void left by traditional banks, using data and technology to extend loans. However, few addressed the other two legs of financial inclusion — insurance and wealth creation.
Finhaat
began by distributing insurance products in 2022 to cater to India’s vast rural and semi-urban markets before expanding into wealth management and wellness services. The insurance broking platform has built a B2B SaaS model to work closely with individual agents (point-of-sale persons or PoSPs with knowledge of local communities) and rural-focussed institutions, microfinance firms, non-banking financial companies (including Nidhi companies), cooperative societies and farmer producer organisations (FPOs).
The platform distributes life, health, general and parametric insurance products through a network of more than 200 insurers and 3K+ individual agents across 85% of India’s pin codes. Its proprietary tech delivers affordable financial products tailored to customer needs through digital channels. Since launch, the startup claims to have served 8 Mn customers, primarily via curated insurance distributed through institutions. Beyond distribution, Finhaat offers various services such as claim management and data-based trend analysis.
It also launched Finhaat Wealth in January, a tech-driven and advisor-assisted wealth management vertical offering tools for investments, retirement and long-term savings.
Finhaat earns revenue through platform fees and product-linked commissions while offering a zero-CAPEX model for its institutional and individual partners. The fintech reported more than 20% YoY revenue growth in FY25, reaching INR 30 Cr+ from INR 25 Cr in FY24.
Inside Finhaat’s Full Tech Stack For Bharat
“When we started, digital distribution in rural India was lagging and much of the workflow was manual. With Finhaat, we wanted to leverage the power of technology and build something scalable, sustainable and efficient,” said founder & CEO Vinod Singh. “The goal was to set up a fully digital distribution platform for insurance products, allowing us to streamline all operations and use data to customise products for our target audience.”
Accessing and managing one’s financial health should be simple in a digital-first economy. But for many Indians, insurance, or any other financial product, remained intimidating, often due to a lack of early exposure and trust. Therefore, Finhaat emphasises user education and technology integration to build a trust bridge for underserved communities. Its distribution platform is designed to offer clear, reliable financial solutions, while its agent partners are trained to demystify complex concepts and provide in-person advisory services.
Given Finhaat’s multi-partner model, another critical challenge was designing a system that was intuitive for users, able to digitise curated insurance and robust enough to scale. The outcome was a B2B SaaS platform integrating partners seamlessly to distribute and service low-cost, high-volume insurance products. The startup also built a proprietary claims management framework to ensure claim settlement in under a week, compared to the industry average of several weeks in rural areas.
Source: www.inc42.com
