MC EXCLUSIVE ACKO to ramp up EV-specific products, distribution channels as it begins Tesla linked insurance: CEO Animesh Das

Animesh Das, CEO, ACKO General Insurance

ACKO General Insurance is expanding its EV-specific product suite and distribution channels while beginning telematics trials tied to its role as a preferred insurance partner for Tesla in India, CEO Animesh Das said, during an interaction with Moneycontrol.

Currently, motor insurance accounts for about 40 percent of ACKO’s overall portfolio, with electric vehicles making up roughly a tenth of that segment. CEO Animesh Das said the company plans to significantly scale up this share in the coming quarters, although refraining from providing any specific guidance. On the company’s plans to go public, he declined to specify finer timelines or divulge further information related to the IPO.

Elaborating on the company's partnership with Tesla, Das said, "for ACKO, the partnership with Tesla marks more than an entry into premium electric-vehicle insurance, it’s a test case for how the company wants to reinvent the way car insurance is designed, sold, and managed.

ACKO is the first and only pure-play Indian insurer to partner with Tesla. The other insurers working with the EV maker including Zurich, Kotak, and Liberty are part of Tesla’s existing international relationships.

Das described Tesla as a company that “redefined what a car could be,” and said ACKO has done the same for insurance by using technology to make ownership simpler and smarter.

The company has built capabilities for EV product and channel expansion, he said. It plans to widen its range of specialised add-ons, including coverage for batteries, high-end electronics, and charger-related liabilities.

The goal, Das said, is to make insurance convenient in the buying process, which would be built seamlessly into the vehicle purchase and easy to manage afterward.

The company had earlier noted that ACKO has also started piloting connected-car solutions that feed vehicle data into its systems to create usage-based insurance models. Das explained that by analysing how, when, and where a vehicle is driven, insurers can move away from flat pricing to more personalised, real-time risk assessment.

The Tesla partnership, he noted, gives ACKO an ideal environment to experiment. "The vehicles themselves are built around software and constant data exchange. That creates opportunities to design products that reward safer driving or offer dynamic coverage levels, while also tightening fraud detection and claim validation."

On challenges around data-driven EV insurance models, any telematics-based model will be built with explicit customer consent and data transparency at its core, adding that data privacy and user control will guide every stage of product design. The company is in continuous discussions with the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) to explore frameworks for ensuring robust data protection and assessing how effectively such safeguards can be implemented.

Das said he believes this approach can redefine how innovation itself is insured.

EVs depend on expensive batteries and software-driven systems like ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems), and Das said ACKO hopes that integrating remote diagnostics and telematics can reduce downtime and improve claims turnaround.

Internally, ACKO’s teams are being restructured around this vision. “We’re trying to make insurance as responsive, quiet, and human as the technology it protects,” Das said, adding that it is keeping a close watch on adoption rates from the Tesla pilot and the broader growth of EV penetration in India.

The company’s success, an earlier company statement said, will depend on execution including syncing OEM data, dealer and lender systems, consent-based telemetry, and repair networks, all while navigating evolving regulatory norms on connected-vehicle data.

If done right, the payoff could be significant and could lead to sharper pricing accuracy, healthier loss ratios, and stronger customer retention through continuous post-sale engagement, it added.