Policybazaar for Business Expands Tech-Driven Reinsurance Across MENA Region

Policybazaar for Business has just made some serious moves onto the international stage, setting up its reinsurance operations across Sri Lanka, Qatar, Oman, and the UAE. For those of us closely watching the insurtech wave wash over the MENA region, this feels like a real sign of the times—tech-first solutions reaching corners of the insurance industry that have, let’s be honest, often been left to muddle along with outdated processes.

This B2B arm of Policybazaar.com claims it’s among the first India-born intermediaries to roll out a proper technology-powered reinsurance model in markets like these. The aim? To give insurers in fast-growing economies a sharper edge—speedier decisions, clearer data, and fewer headaches when it comes to the complex world of risk, whether that’s property, marine, liability, or the maze of cyber and climate-linked perils. As someone who’s seen more than a few startups get bogged down by ancient insurance paperwork, I’m chuffed to bits to see a platform promising a digital-first approach with proper analytics and real actuarial insight.

Tarun Mathur, one of Policybazaar’s co-founders, didn’t pull any punches about the state of old-school reinsurance. According to him, too many incumbents have relied on being big and well-connected, never mind if the service is a bit of a faff. But times have changed—insurers now live in a world full of climate jitters, cyber headaches, and constant economic curveballs. In Tarun’s words, what’s needed isn’t more of the same, but a way to “see risks in sharper resolution” and move quickly, with transparency baked in.

Let’s take a quick stroll through the numbers. Sri Lanka’s insurance industry saw its Gross Written Premiums hit LKR 280.1 billion last year—a cracking 39.6% jump from 2019. Life insurance, in particular, is on fire, yet specialist lines like cyber still barely get a look-in. Over in Oman, insurers reported a neat OMR 609 million in revenues for 2024 (that’s up from OMR 561 million the year before), and the rollout of mandatory health cover is bound to stir things up even further. Qatar isn’t sitting still, either: QIC, a big local player, managed to grow its GWP by 17% in the first half of 2025, all while the regulator is putting pressure on for better capital standards and digital innovation. And then there’s the UAE, which honestly could teach the rest of us a thing or two about scaling up—the market grew GWPs by more than 21% in the past year, and the Dubai International Financial Centre has cemented its role as a massive regional hub for reinsurance.

All in all, this expansion signals that Policybazaar for Business is deadly serious about building a pan-Asian and Middle Eastern presence, with technology running right through its core. I reckon if they actually deliver on all this talk of speed and transparency, it could rattle a few cages around the region’s legacy players—and goodness knows, some of those old ways are well past their sell-by date, you know? Here at Arageek, we’re always keeping our eyes peeled for just this sort of shift—because when the region’s insurers get the tools to move fast and make data-led choices, it means better cover (and fewer sleepless nights) for startups and entrepreneurs across the MENA. And believe it or not, that’s something worth shouting about—even if, just occasionally, the tech can be a tad overwhelming. But then again, who said changing the game was ever going to be simple or, dare I say, streightforward?

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