How Niva Bupa is building an 'advisor-first' marketing engine for its next phase of growth

New Delhi: Niva Bupa Health Insurance is leveraging digital tools and structured advisor engagement to drive growth, logging 98% of its policies digitally and aiming to raise regional retail market share from 10% to 35% in key cities.

With health insurance penetration at roughly 8% nationally and 25% in the top 10 cities, the company views advisor intent, retention, and performance as the key levers for expanding coverage.

“They’re just codes in the system. Of those, about 50% end up doing some business for the company, while roughly 30% don’t contribute any meaningful business. Maybe one policy every year or two, which isn’t significant. After that, they become inactive. Some qualitative research we conducted to explore this data point showed that, for those who don’t generate meaningful business, one of the biggest barriers was intent,” said Nimish Agrawal, Chief Marketing Officer, Niva Bupa Health Insurance, in conversation with BestMediaInfo.com.

Agrawal added that improving advisor intent not only boosts business but also reduces mis-selling and ensures claims are handled efficiently. “As the longevity of people in the industry improves, the fly-by-night operator mentality, which leads to some mis-selling and consumer problems not being solved at the time of claims, will fail.”

Consumer awareness and gaps

To understand consumer behaviour, Niva Bupa conducted surveys and immersion studies. The results show that 93% of consumers are aware of health insurance and 78% consider it important, but ownership remains below 25% in the surveyed segment.

The first module of the company’s digital academy addresses the significance of health insurance in India, including medical inflation, costs of hospitalisation in the top 20 cities, and comparisons with other investment options. It also covers career opportunities, emphasising health insurance as a full-time occupation to improve advisor retention and performance.

“If we can get intent, the longevity of people would become better in the industry,” said Agrawal. “This approach helps advisors commit to their careers, which benefits consumers by reducing gaps in service and ensuring claims are managed correctly.”

The penetration of health insurance is largely driven by advisors, contributing roughly 37–40% of the overall industry business. Advisors are concentrated in the top 30 cities where most insurance companies have branches.

Regional disparities are evident. “In some markets, we have 10% retail market share, which we aim to grow to 35%. In some pockets of South India, it is only 2–3%. So our advisor networks need to be at a much higher proportion than in the past,” said Agrawal.

Digital integration

Niva Bupa has integrated its digital learning platform into its mobile application, allowing advisors to log policies, track commissions, and access learning modules. “They will log the policy completely on the mobile application. We have gone digital. 98% of our policy logging happens digitally through this app,” said Agrawal.

The app also tracks performance and provides insights on rewards and recognition based on incremental effort. Advisor engagement is measured through net promoter scores (NPS) to track satisfaction and intent. “We will measure the NPS of our advisors who have taken the digital academy,” Agrawal said.

Niva Bupa Insurance Academy

The Niva Bupa Insurance Academy has been launched to upskill over 1 million advisors across India. The Academy provides structured modules on product knowledge, customer communication, digital tools, and claim-handling processes. It blends classroom and e-learning to ensure accessibility across geographies.

Speaking on the initiative, Ankur Kharbanda, Executive Director & Chief Business Officer, said, “Health insurance advisory today needs to be a digital-first, capability-led profession. By launching the Niva Bupa Insurance Academy, we are investing in building trusted advisors who can guide customers through complex decisions. Our Academy will create digitally savvy advisors who are not just selling products, they are guiding families on health financial protection.”

Distribution strategy

The Academy complements Niva Bupa’s multi-channel distribution strategy. Agrawal explained: “We have a focused channel strategy. We have agency presence, corporate tie-ups with 22–23 banks, digital business contributing about 10% of overall business, NBFCs, third-party distributors, and 350 aggregators and digital partners.”

By spreading the distribution load across multiple channels, the company reduces reliance on any single avenue, while ensuring advisors have multiple opportunities for engagement.

Funding and allocation

The digital academy is funded separately from traditional marketing budgets. “In a full year, it should be about 8–10%. Launching is when we are going to accelerate,” said Agrawal. This ensures resources are focused on learning and advisor development without affecting brand-building activities.

Agrawal highlighted the company’s approach to growth, combining current performance with projections. “I know my three-year capital, and I know my growth rate. So there should be a delta. It’s difficult to quantify exactly right now whether it will be 10% or 15%, but based on the rate at which we’re growing our policy base and advisor base, there should be something sitting on top of that,” he said.

By identifying strong and weak markets, Niva Bupa tailors its advisor network to maximise impact. “Some markets may see 10% retail market share moving to 35%, but others, particularly in South India, may be 2–3%. Therefore, our advisor networks must be much higher in proportion than in the past,” Agrawal noted.

Niva Bupa’s approach focuses on structured engagement with advisors, backed by digital tools and measurable metrics. By combining learning modules, mobile integration, multi-channel distribution, and NPS measurement, the company addresses low consumer ownership, uneven penetration, and low-intent advisors.

With over 1 million advisors targeted and 2 lakh already onboarded, Niva Bupa aims to improve both advisor longevity and consumer outcomes, strengthening India’s health insurance ecosystem and expanding financial protection coverage.