IndusInd General Insurance appoints Sharad Mathur as MD and CEO

MUMBAI: New boss, clear mandate. IndusInd General Insurance Company Limited (formerly Reliance General Insurance Company Limited), part of the IndusInd International Holdings Limited (IIHL) Group, has appointed Sharad Mathur as managing director and chief executive officer, following statutory approvals. Mathur brings three decades in insurance and financial services, and a record built on transformation, distribution and growth. The insurer has chosen a leader who has done this before.

The brief is ambitious. Mathur will lead the company’s next phase of transformation and growth, with a focus on customer centricity, digital innovation, insurance inclusion, profitable growth and strong governance. His priorities include enhancing customer experience, strengthening distribution partnerships and building a resilient, technology-enabled and customer-focused organisation. That is a long list, but each item points the same way: a more accessible insurer that is easier to deal with and easier to trust.

The pedigree helps. Before joining IndusInd General Insurance, Mathur served as managing director and chief executive officer of Universal Sompo General Insurance for over six years. There he led its transformation and strengthened its distribution, risk management, underwriting discipline and tech-led customer servicing capabilities. Earlier, he held leadership positions at SBI General Insurance and ICICI Lombard, contributing to their growth from their formative stages. Helping build insurers from their early days is a useful skill for a company that wants to scale up and clean up at once.

The mix of strengths is worth a closer look. His record covers organisational transformation, distribution expansion, technology-led innovation, growth and governance. In general insurance, those goals can pull against each other, since growth can strain governance and distribution can strain underwriting. A leader who has worked across all of them has a head start in balancing the trade-offs.

His credentials reinforce the governance theme. Mathur is a fellow member of the Institute of Directors and a member of the Institute of Internal Auditors, India. He has also completed executive leadership and compliance programmes at the University of Pennsylvania, the Indian School of Business, Harvard Business and the Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs.

The appointment reinforces IndusInd General Insurance’s commitment to building a stronger, more accessible and customer-centric insurance business, while creating sustainable long-term value for customers, partners and stakeholders. The company starts from a solid base. It is one of India’s leading general insurance companies, with a bouquet of products spanning motor, health, travel and home insurance, and customised solutions to meet the protection needs of each customer. It has a robust network of more than 120,000 intermediaries and 128 branches across India, serving retail, corporate and SME clients. With a wide distribution network and an experienced new chief, IndusInd General Insurance has the ingredients for its next chapter.