Summary

Reducing poverty requires not just the generation of income among the poor, but also the protection of these incomes. Microinsurance offers innovative new ways to combat poverty in India through helping the rural poor systematically manage financial risks to their livelihoods and lives, this powerful study shows. And the microinsurance industry is poised to take off, just as microcredit did a decade ago: 90 percent of the Indian population – some 950 million people – are not covered by insurance and represent an untapped market of nearly US$2 billion. This enormous "missing market" is ready for customized life and non-life insurance, but first, serious mismatches between the needs of the insured and the insurers must be overcome, pitting priorities against profits.