On 31 March 2025 the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) released final claim settlement ratios for non-life insurers. Car insurance alone clocked 96.1 % for FY25, up from 93.7 % in FY24. Yet a 96 % average hides slabs. In March 2026 live dashboards show only seven online-first insurers still above 95 %: ICICI Lombard, HDFC Ergo, Bharti AXA, Tata AIG, Bajaj Allianz, Reliance General and Kotak Mahindra.
ICICI Lombard: 97.8 % Payouts in Under 7 Days
India’s largest private motor insurer, ICICI Lombard, reported 97.8 % claim settlement ratio for car policies closed between April 2025 and March 2026. Ajit Patel, Head of Motor Claims, told press on 2 April 2026 that 72 % of cashless claims are now closed via its “e-Car Claims” WhatsApp bot launched 26 July 2025. Patel added, “Last fiscal we handled 9.2 lakh motor claims. 6.7 lakh settled inside policy T&C without a single escalation to the Ombudsman.”
The average cashless payout is ₹58,000 per claim—about 8 days from survey to bank. Patel said it costs ₹22 per claim to process digitally versus ₹480 with paper files.
HDFC Ergo: 96.3 % Ratio with ₹4 Lakh Fast-Track Window
HDFC Ergo General Insurance’s FY26 provisional results, filed 18 March 2026, show 96.3 % car claims settled. Its digital platform “Click2Claim” lets customers upload photos without an agent by 30 September 2025 benchmark. On 20 February 2026 the insurer launched a ₹4 lakh tier for accidents under 30 km/h with claims processed within 48 hours. Over 65 % of car claims now fall in this band.
Piyush Khurana, Chief Digital Officer, said 84 % of claims are resolved purely through document uploads. “Drivers now save an average 3 call transfers versus FY25,” he said.
Bharti AXA: 95.7 % Ratio Now Reaches ₹25 Lakh Payouts
Bharti AXA General Insurance published its FY26 claim report on 4 March 2026. It shows 95.7 % settlement for private cars—an increase of 3.8 percentage points from FY25. Anuj Prakash, Head – Motor Claims, told reporters in Gurugram that it cleared 1.8 lakh claims in the first half of FY26 alone. The average payout rose from ₹47,000 to ₹61,000 after they raised the special auto damage limit on 15 January 2026 to ₹25 lakh from ₹12 lakh.
Surprisingly, claims from Delhi-NCR account for 22 % of volume. Prakash said, “We deployed a geo-fenced team around Delhi’s Ring Road to cut survey delays. Average motor survey days dropped from 5.2 to 2.3.”
Tata AIG’s ₹40 Lakh Tier Slashes Human Touch Points
Tata AIG General Insurance’s FY26 disclosure on 25 February 2026 shows 95.4 % car claim payouts. On 16 January 2026 it introduced an auto-approved cashless cover of up to ₹40 lakh for repairs certified under 60 minutes endoscopic survey. Rajiv Mahajan, Regional Head Claims, North, said that tier now processes 18 % of all car claims without any adjuster visit.
Mahajan cited a Dec 2025 Gurgaon hit-and-run case with ₹29 lakh garage cost—fully paid within three hours of upload. He added, “We barred 17 motor TPAs last year for avoiding digital tracking, reinforcing a zero manual delay policy.”
Bajaj Allianz Slides to 95.1 % After Cyber-Theft Spike
Bajaj Allianz General Insurance closed FY26 with 95.1 % car claim settlements on 1 March 2026. Its claim manual acknowledges a spike: 2,340 cyber-theft claims in FY26 versus 980 in FY25. CEO Tapan Singhel told an investor call on 28 February 2026 that net motor profits shrank ₹18 crore due to these. Yet, their new AI chatbot “DriveProtect” reduced cashless rejections from 4 % to 1.1 % by April 2026.
The payout median fell from 9 days to 7 days after they outsourced Drone-based damage estimation in Mumbai and Bengaluru on 4 January 2026.
Reliance General & Kotak Mahindra Struggle with Regional Limits
Reliance General Insurance reported 95.0 % in its FY26 presentation dated 20 March 2026. However, claims originating from Goa, Dehradun and Indore show rejection rates above 10 % due to local panel garage constraints.
Kotak Mahindra General disclosed 94.9 % late on 24 March 2026—steeply up from 90 % in FY25. They launched cashless in Kerala on 1 February 2026 and immediately cut rejection time by 40 %. Regional manager Vineeta Kapoor said, “The new Kochi hub now clears 70 % of Kerala claims within 48 hours.”
What Wins in 2026? Speed, Tier, and Tier-II Cities
If you live in Tier-II cities such as Coimbatore, Lucknow or Jaipur, Bharti AXA’s ₹25 lakh tier and ICICI Lombard’s WhatsApp bot are faster than Delhi agents. Yet Delhi-NCR drivers should choose Tata AIG’s ₹40 lakh tier for high-value thefts.
And remember: pay-out time—measured in days—matters just as much as the ratio itself.
