● North India Leads Surge as Smaller Cities Drive Female Participation to Record High
● Tier 3 Towns Emerge as hub of Women Micro-Entrepreneurs in Insurance
InsuranceDekho, one of India’s fastest-growing insurtech platform, today reported a near-doubling of women insurance partners onboarded on its platform from Q3 FY 2024-25 to Q3 FY 2025-26, a year-on-year growth of approximately 97%. Emerging data for Q4 FY 2025-26 indicates this momentum is accelerating, with female partners’ trajectory trending upwards of all new partner additions where gender has been declared.
A striking aspect of the trend is its geographic character. Over 54% of all women partners onboarded by InsuranceDekho in Q3 FY 2025-26 came from Tier 3 cities, towns such as Unnao, Hapur, Karnal, Mathura and Godda, challenging the conventional narrative that women’s entry into financial services distribution is primarily an urban phenomenon.
Unlike salaried roles, an insurance partner on a platform like InsuranceDekho is structurally a micro-entrepreneur sourcing her own clients, building a local book of business, and earning on the basis of policies sold. For women in smaller towns where formal employment options are limited, this model offers something rare: income, autonomy, and a professional identity, without requiring relocation or fixed working hours.
Commenting on the growing participation of women in insurance distribution, Ankit Agrawal, Founder & CEO, InsuranceDekho said, Insurance distribution in India is increasingly becoming a pathway to financial participation, especially for women in emerging markets. What we are seeing is not just higher participation, but a shift towards more individuals building independent, flexible income streams through insurance advisory. As the market expands, growth will be led by advisors who are deeply rooted in their communities. Our focus is to strengthen this ecosystem with the right platform and support, ensuring that expansion is both inclusive and sustainable.
For InsuranceDekho, the North Zone registered the highest growth across all regions, with female partner additions rising substantially in Q3 FY26 compared to Q3 FY25; a 118% jump. Cities including New Delhi, Lucknow, Ghaziabad, Gurgaon, Jammu, among others contributed significantly. All four zones recorded steady growth, underscoring that the trend is not localised to one geography.
After a marginal dip in female share in Q1 FY 2025-26, attributable to overall platform-wide onboarding seasonality. The organisation has recorded consecutive quarters of rising female participation, reaching 17.2% in Q3 FY26.
InsuranceDekho’s data mirrors a broader structural shift in the Indian economy. India’s Female Labour Force Participation Rate (FLFPR) improved from 49.8% in FY2017-18 to 60.1% in FY2023-24, according to the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation’s ‘Women and Men in India 2024’ report. Female job applications in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities have grown exponentially, particularly in sales and business development roles, according to research by Invest India.
The insurance partner model sits at the intersection of two of India’s fastest-growing workforce trends: the rise of women’s self-employment and the expansion of the platform-enabled gig economy into smaller cities. NITI Aayog projects India’s gig workforce to grow to 23.5 million by 2029-30, that is nearly three times its 2021 base. Within this, women in flexible, commission based roles in financial services represent one of the most economically consequential and undercovered cohorts. InsuranceDekho’s partner data offers one of the few granular, ground-level signals of this shift in action.
Industry-wide, gender balance among insurance distribution partners remains a work in progress. InsuranceDekho’s current trajectory with the female share approaching 17% and growing, positions it as an active contributor to closing this gap.
