The Coronavirus lockdown was expected to hobble insurers; agents could not step out to sell products and offices operated with limited capacity. Yet, the fear of the virus pushed Indians to buy health insurance. A recent report from Kotak Institutional Equities showed that retail health insurance premiums rose 28 percent YoY in FY21 on the back of the rising need for medical policies during the pandemic. The share of retail health premiums in overall general insurance premiums (ex-crop) increased to 16 percent in FY21 from 13 percent a year ago. But motor insurance, which is the biggest non-life business segment, had a 2 percent degrowth in FY21 due to slowing vehicle sales.