Indian Insurance Industry 2021 and beyond: The art of the possible

Abstract

Every crisis, whether personal, social, or global, makes us look at things differently and possibly changes our way of life. In the past, a global emergency like a recession or a pandemic had forced our societies to adapt and change our course. The year 2020 has presented us with both a pandemic (social crisis) and a related recession (financial crisis). As a result, we are forced to look at the way we lead our lives, run our businesses, and plan our economic policies, so that we can do course correction for the future in a completely new light. The economies of more than 100 countries have cracked and many major industries – entertainment, automobile, travel, tourism and hospitality – have been negatively impacted due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The April 2020 report of World Economic Outlook (WEO) projected the global economy to contract by -3 percent in 2020 due to COVID-19. The projection was lowered to -4.4 percent in the October 2020 report. In April 2020, the global economy was projected to grow by 5.8 percent in 2021 (figure 1), and the projection now stands at 5.4 percent. 8 The global economy is expected to recover more gradually than previously expected.