Himal Press 
KATHMANDU: Insurance companies paid out more than Rs 100 billion in claims in the last fiscal year, 2025/26, representing 11.3% growth over the previous fiscal year.
According to the latest insurance report published by the Nepal Insurance Authority (NIA), insurers, both life and non-life, settled claims totaling Rs 101.36 billion during the review year.
In 2024/25, insurance companies paid out more than Rs 91.06 billion in claims.
Data show life insurance companies accounted for Rs 69.64 billion from 419,136 claims in the review period. Compared to the previous fiscal year, claims increased by 7.16% and payouts by 5.83%.
Similarly, non-life insurers paid Rs 31.71 billion for 164,101 claims during the review year. This represents an 8.94% growth in the number of claims and a sharp 25.57% rise in payouts. In 2024/25, life insurers had paid out Rs 25.52 million to settle 150,639 claims.
The higher payouts by non-life insurers were largely driven by significant physical damage caused by the Gen Z protests in September last year.
Insurers still have over Rs 52 billion in outstanding claims.
The number of active life insurance policies rose 7.43% year-on-year to 16.79 million—an increase of more than 1.16 million policies. Bagmati Province dominated the market, accounting for 61.76% of all policies. However, its share has slightly declined compared to the previous year. Gandaki Province emerged as the fastest-growing market in the review period, posting a sharp 35.90% increase and significantly expanding its share, while Koshi and Madhesh also recorded strong double-digit growth of 18.05% and 17.41%, respectively. Karnali and Sudurpashchim together contributed less than 7.4% of total policies.
Non-life insurance trends also show moderate but uneven growth across provinces. The number of general insurance policies rose by 6.87% year-on-year to 3.47 million. Bagmati alone accounted for 44.37% of total policies and recorded the highest growth rate of 9.88%. Lumbini and Koshi provinces accounted for market shares of 15.71% and 12.96%, respectively. In contrast, Karnali Province was the only region to see a contraction, with policy numbers falling by 2.78%.
