In India’s rapidly evolving insurtech landscape, one company is refusing to play by the old rules of confusion and complexity. Inka Insurance, the digital-first protection platform behind Inkasure. com, is flipping the insurance narrative from sell and forget to understand and protect. Born from a profound insight into how insurance should work, especially when financial stability and wellbeing hang in the balance, Inka is staking its claim as the guiding force millions of Indians never knew they needed. Our country is in dire need of better insurance awareness as well as ventures who can consider the well being of a middle class segment. A single mishap or health emergency can lead to a substantial deterioration in the financial well being of a family and to combat this,Inka Insurance has come up with thought initiatives.
Our team reached out to the founder and CEO of the company, Vaibhav Kathju, to discuss the overall journey and the impact created by them since the inception. In this context, the founder walked us through some lesser known facts about his brainchild and its future projection to revolutionize the insurance industry in the coming times. Let’s explore what he shared with us in an exclusive talk:
From Realisation to Revolution
The story of Inka begins not with products, but with a painful market truth: insurance today remains opaque, overwhelming, and poorly tailored. Too many people buy policies they don’t fully understand, and only discover the gaps when they need them most. This wasn’t an insight gleaned from a boardroom; it was a lived experience for founder Vaibhav Kathju, a seasoned leader with over two decades in India’s financial and insurance sectors.
Vaibhav recognised what others overlooked: Indian consumers do not lack access to insurance, they lack clarity. With a mission to solve this fundamental gap, he and his co-founders set out to build not another marketplace, but a decision-making compass, a platform that helps people make confident, needs-driven insurance choices.
“Pehle Samjho, Phir Khareedo” — Understand First, Then Buy Inka’s tagline, “Pehle Samjho, Phir Khareedo”, isn’t a marketing slogan; it’s the company’s operating principle. It directly challenges the industry’s status quo, where buyers too often leap into policies without comprehending their true fit or value. Instead, Inka puts understanding first, using data, intelligence and clear guidance to illuminate what customers need and why.
The Inka Insurance Report: Personalisation at Scale
The company’s flagship offering, the Inka Insurance Report (IIR), is where its vision meets execution. Rather than firing off generic product lists, Inka asks a handful of simple questions about you, your life stage, income, health priorities, family profile, even credit data, and runs this through a powerful algorithm. Within about a minute, the IIR delivers a hyper-personalised, unbiased, transparent insurance blueprint tailored to your unique needs.
What sets this apart is not just speed, but its depth. Inka’s engine scans thousands of insurance products, analyzes millions of data permutations, and eliminates guesswork, so instead of a generic shortlist, you get *the right choices for you.
AI Meets Empathy: Enter “Vaani”
If the IIR is Inka’s brain, then Vaani is its voice. Launched as India’s first conversational insurance AI, powered by advanced intelligence, Vaani chats with users like a trusted adviser, not a salesperson. The AI assistant is available 24/7 to resolve customer queries as she answers questions, explains concepts, and walks users through their personalized recommendations in natural language. Whether you’re a busy professional curious about term cover or someone buying health insurance for the first time, Vaani demystifies every step of the journey. Unlike some digital tools that leave users stranded after purchase, Inka pairs Vaani’s guidance with real human support, especially through the claims process, where confusion often reaches its peak. As the company likes to remind users: they’re with you before, during, and after you buy.
A Focused, Trust-Driven Game Plan
Inka’s product philosophy is remarkable in a world of insurance superstores. The platform only recommends health and term life insurance, deliberately excluding savings-linked products, ULIPs, or hybrid plans that often complicate decisions and dilute protection. This clean focus reinforces Inka’s belief that insurance is protection, not investment theatre. Inka now offers Super Top-up plans with coverage up to ₹4.9 crores for an annual premium under Rs1,000.
Credit data is often seen as a barrier or judgment metric for the borrower. But, the Inka Insurance team uses it strategically to tailor covers, clarify affordability, and in select cases secure premium benefits, not to push higher commissions.
Real Users, Real Confidence
The proof of the model isn’t just in sleek dashboards but in the high number of user satisfaction. Tens of thousands of Indians have already trusted Inka’s advisory engine, with many citing clear recommendations and empathetic support as game-changers in what was once an intimidating process. Reports show a high satisfaction rate, and users often praise Inka’s ability to break complexity into clarity.
Leadership That Walks the Talk
As the founder of the venture, Vaibhav’s leadership philosophy permeates the company. In a rare move for a growing tech business, Inka even ran a campaign offering customers exclusive one-on-one sessions with its CEO which is a testament to its commitment to real advice over scripted sales pitches. Supported by a leadership team steeped in insurance and analytics expertise, Inka is doubling down on its founding promise: to make insurance intuitive, accessible, and aligned to real human needs.
Why is Inka a relevant business today?
In our country a single medical emergency can wreak unimaginable financial havoc on any family. It could even take 2-3 generations to settle the debt or neutralize the expenses on medical emergencies for any average middle class family. And where misunderstandings around policies often cost families dearly, Inka Insurance is carving out a singular role, not just as a Distributor, but as a guardian of financial peace of mind.
It is a platform where data meets empathy, where technology serves clarity, and where protection is tailored to life, not sales targets. For India’s next generation of insurance buyers, Inka is not just an option, it’s the compass guiding them to decisions they understand and trust.
