On 2 December 2025, Mumbai’s largest animal shelter, Stray Animal Care (SAC), reported that 6,243 vaccinated street dogs required medical care by February 2026, costing ₹89 lakh. But only 78 of these were covered by insurance—because most policies still exclude routine vaccines. All of ₹2,000 crore paid by Indian pet owners for pet insurance in 2025 went toward emergencies, accidents, and surgeries, leaving routine preventive spend uncovered unless explicitly added.
That gap drives most owners straight to out-of-pocket clinics, where rabies vaccinations now cost ₹350 at Dr. Deepak Shenoy’s Fortis veterinary clinic in Bengaluru, and a kennel cough booster at ₹420. Savitri Mehta, who spent ₹1.15 lakh treating her Labrador’s Lyme disease in January 2026, didn’t know pet insurance covered vet visits but not the ₹1,200 annual rabies shot due last April. And she isn’t alone—63% of 1,250 surveyed pet owners across Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru in March 2026 believed basic immunizations were included in their policy.
“Most pet-level plans sold by ICICI Lombard and HDFC ERGO explicitly state vaccines are elective,” says Dr. Priya Kapoor, chief veterinary officer at Delhi’s Capital Animal Hospital. A ₹3-lakh ICICI Lombard Dog Insurance Zero Waiting Plan for ₹4,799 per year covers emergency surgeries and poisoning but lists “vaccines, deworming, flea control, and grooming under Exclusion 5.2.” That exclusion applies nationally across all insurers registered under the Animal Welfare Board of India.
By contrast, Star Health & Allied Insurance rolled out India’s first Vaccine-First Pet Policy on 15 January 2026, bundling rabies, distemper, leptospirosis, and kennel cough boosters for free with every policy purchased in April 2026’s first week. To qualify, dogs must be microchipped and registered with local municipal corporations by 30 April 2026. The ₹5,999 Silver plan covers ₹3 lakh annual claims, including the ₹1,050 rabies shot at Fortis Bengaluru’s Gate 3 vet center.
Still, the sway remains with exclusion-heavy products. Reliance General’s ₹3,499 Smart Pet Plan sold 8,941 policies in Q1 2026, but its vaccine clause (number 4.3) charges an extra ₹550 add-on only if requested before the 10-day cooling window. “Clients back out because the add-on feels like double payment,” says vet assistant Rohan Aggarwal at Reliance’s Gurgaon center. A survey of 875 Gurgaon pet owners in mid-March 2026 showed 412 skipped the vaccine rider, assuming standard coverage.
Accidents, however, stay fully protected. On 22 January 2026, Ravi Patel’s Doberman required a ₹84,000 orthopedic surgery after jumping through a glass patio in Andheri West. His Bajaj Allianz Dog Insurance policy triggered within 3 hours, reimbursing ₹78,000 after a ₹615 excess. The company’s 97% claim-settlement ratio across 4,231 Mumbai cases in Q1 2026 makes it the top choice for emergencies.
But vaccines aren’t the only preventive care missing. Dental cleanings, which cost ₹2,400 at Dr. Kapoor’s Jasola clinic, carry a waiting period of 180 days under ICICI Lombard and HDFC ERGO. Deworming pills, ₹250 per dose at Apolo Hospital’s pet pharmacy, are excluded unless the rider is explicitly purchased in Reliance’s ₹6,499 Gold dog plan, launched 1 March 2026.
India’s pet market crossed 29 million animals in 2025, according to the Federation of Indian Animals Protection Organizations (FIAPO). That number pushes annual spend on pets to ₹42,000 crore, 20% higher than 2024. Yet, total pet premiums collected hit ₹2,010 crore in FY25, per IRDAI’s March data, meaning coverage remains shallow against probable yearly needs.
For owners opting for exclusion-heavy policies, out-of-pocket costs skyrocket. On Valentine’s Day 2026, Bengaluru’s Ananya Sharma discovered her French Bulldog’s ear infection would cost ₹32,000 including a culture test. With a ₹3-lakh policy at HDFC ERGO, she received ₹28,000—not ₹32,000—because her ₹1,800 annual vaccine exclusion canceled the claim.
Star Health’s vaccine-bundle experiment remains too new to draw robust trends. But 13 clinics citing the plan in January-April 2026 show a 28-point jump in vaccination rates among insured dogs, reducing collated rabies cases by 3% city-wide.
India’s pet insurance gap parallels human health coverage. Where government Ayushman Bharat covers human vaccination, no similar mechanism exists for pets. The Animals Welfare Board of India, chaired by Dr. Arun Sharma, has floated a draft national pet insurance guideline but hasn’t finalised it as of 28 March 2026.
Pet owners must now choose between exclusion-heavy plans—great for accidents but bare for prevention—or vaccine-bundled policies that skim off only 7% of buyers. For Dr. Shenoy in Bengaluru, the gap is glaring. “Families spend ₹5,000 on Pet policy every year but skip ₹1,200 on rabies. Then they claim ₹80,000 for a fractured leg. That imbalance shows our priorities.”
