The Finance Ministry issued a Gazette notification (dated May 2, 2026) formalising changes to the Foreign Exchange Management (Non-debt Instruments) Rules that permit up to 100% foreign direct investment in Indian insurance companies and intermediaries via the automatic route.

The move covers insurers and a broad set of intermediaries — brokers, reinsurance brokers, consultants, corporate agents, TPAs, surveyors and loss assessors, MGAs and repositories — while retaining IRDAI oversight and requiring compliance with the Insurance Act, 1938.

A special exception keeps Life Insurance Corporation of India's automatic-route cap at 20%. Governance safeguards include a requirement that at least one of the chairperson, MD or CEO be an Indian resident.

What changes for advisors

Independent agents and corporate-agent shops can now expect a wider product mix as global insurers move in. Reinsurance broking — historically constrained — is also fully open, which should bring more competitive pricing on group health and term policies.

Compliance officers and TPAs will need to refresh their KYC procedures to handle a broader pool of foreign-origin counterparties.