According to the global reinsurer, India’s total property exposure is now estimated at $26-29 trillion. A significant part of this exposure lies in natural catastrophe hotspots-regions where high concentrations of economic assets overlap with risks such as floods, cyclones and earthquakes.
A major disaster in these areas could materially slow national economic growth, the report said.
“The protection gap can have a significant impact in terms of large number of losses in assets, as well as the effect on GDP,” said Amitabha Ray, market head, Swiss Re India. “So we are basically highlighting that there is a concentration of risk in the country and we need to concentrate on reducing the protection gap overall, as we talk about it in the report, with a particular emphasis on these hotspots.”
Swiss Re highlighted that India’s total property exposure is now about six to seven times the country’s GDP. While this ratio is lower than in advanced economies, disasters can still shave up to 1.3 percentage points off GDP growth in the year they occur. With insurance penetration at just 7-10%, economic losses from a major flood or cyclone could be substantial.
Swiss Re said Asia’s second-largest economy is likely to grow at around 6.5% annually over the next five years, as India remains among the fastest-growing major emerging markets. Swiss Re estimates total insurance premiums in India to grow at a compound annual rate of about 6.9% in real terms between 2026 and 2030, making the country one of the fastest-growing large insurance markets globally.
Swiss Re said India’s property risk exposure has risen sharply over recent decades due to rapid economic growth and urbanisation, with assets increasingly concentrated in disaster-prone regions. The reinsurer estimates total property exposure at $26-29 trillion, with Maharashtra, Gujarat and Delhi-NCR together accounting for about a third of the total.
Maharashtra and Gujarat each represent around $3.2-3.5 trillion, while Delhi-NCR has exposure of $2.5-2.8 trillion. Southern states such as Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka also carry large exposures, driven by industrial hubs and coastal infrastructure vulnerable to floods, cyclones and earthquakes.