Channel mix

What is channel mix?

Channel mix is the share of an insurer's new business that comes through each distribution channel. In Indian life insurance the main channels are individual agents, banks acting as corporate agents (bancassurance), other corporate agents, brokers, the insurer's own direct and online sales, and smaller channels such as insurance marketing firms, common service centres, web aggregators and point of sales persons. In general and health insurance, brokers and direct sales play a larger part.

Channel mix is usually measured on new business premium or on APE. It describes how dependent an insurer is on each route to the customer.

How channel mix is reported in India

Public disclosure forms. Life insurers publish business acquisition through different channels every quarter: form L-38 for individual business and form L-37 for group business, showing policies, lives covered and premium by channel. General insurers publish equivalent channel data in their NL forms.

IRDAI annual report. IRDAI publishes the industry split each year. For 2024-25:

Source: IRDAI Annual Report 2024-25, Table II.10. New business premium includes first year and single premium.

For general insurers in 2024-25, brokers brought 40.08% of premium, direct business 23.65%, individual agents 19.96% and corporate agents 8.69%. In health insurance (excluding personal accident and travel), individual agents brought 72% of individual health premium, while brokers brought 53% of group health premium.

Insurer results. Listed insurers report channel mix on APE. SBI Life, for example, reported an APE channel mix of 62% bancassurance, 27% agency and 11% other channels for the nine months to December 2025.

What moves channel mix

• Bank tie-ups. Gaining or losing a large bank partner can move a private insurer's mix by several percentage points in a year. Since 2022, corporate agents can tie up with up to nine insurers per line, which has made shelf space more competitive.
• Agency investment. Building agency is slow, so changes in its share usually come from years of recruitment and branch expansion.
• Product mix. ULIPs and savings plans tend to flow through banks; protection and small-ticket traditional plans flow through agents and digital.
• Regulation. Changes to commission rules, the 2025 amendment's move to perpetual registration for intermediaries, and Bima Sugam, the common insurance marketplace backed by IRDAI, all affect which channels grow.

What channel mix means for distribution

• Concentration is a risk. A private life insurer with half its business from one bank is exposed to that bank's strategy. Boards and investors watch the share of the largest partner.
• Each channel has different economics. Bancassurance scales quickly with lower fixed cost but shares control with the bank. Agency is slower and costlier to build but gives the insurer its own customer relationship. Direct and online have low commission but high marketing cost per policy. A mix decision is a decision about cost of acquisition, persistency and margin.
• Compare channels on value, not premium. A channel that brings large single premium savings cases can lead on premium but trail on value of new business. Insurers that report VNB margin by channel make better allocation decisions.
• Use the public data for benchmarking. L-38 and the IRDAI annual report let any distribution team compare its mix against peers, and see where competitors are growing.
• Expect regulatory attention. IRDAI's September 2026 consultation paper on distribution economics proposed commission caps that differ by distribution architecture and product, which would change the relative economics of channels if adopted.