For Allianz Services' Ritu Gangrade Arora, her current stint offers her the biggest canvas yet

For the third time in her career, avid painter Ritu Gangrade Arora is readying to create something from scratch—only now, the canvas is far bigger. A founding member of PNB MetLife Insurance and Canara HSBC Insurance, 52-year-old Arora is excited to start all over again as she returns to India as the face of Allianz, with Jio Financial Services (JFSL) as a formidable partner, part of India’s largest conglomerate.

Things are already moving fast. In July, Allianz joined hands with Mukesh Ambani-led JFSL to form a 50:50 reinsurance joint venture. The duo has also entered into a non-binding agreement for setting up equally-owned joint ventures for both general and life insurance business. For Arora, as the country head, it feels less like a restart and more like a new beginning—one that brings her journey full circle, while giving her room to paint the biggest chapter of her professional story.

Arora was previously the CEO & CIO of Allianz Investment Management, Asia-Pacific, where she oversaw investments across a dozen countries and 21 operating entities, managing assets of approximately $50 billion. Under her leadership, Allianz significantly deepened its investment footprint in Indian public markets and diversified private asset classes.

There is a clear tailwind in her favour as she returns to India after eight years. Just over the weekend, she took a road trip from Delhi to Jaipur. A three-hour drive, no traffic, 250 km each way. “Sometimes we are self-deprecating, saying ‘nothing will change.’ But these things stand out and remind us that things have changed,” says Arora, who points to the widespread reach of telecommunications, expanding financial inclusion, and the country’s robust QR code-based payments ecosystem.

This is still a time of transition for the venture. The reinsurance business is likely to be the first to take off. “The current regulatory framework supports domestic reinsurance companies. With Indian insurance growing rapidly, it makes complete sense to have the backbone—reinsurance—based here. Opening an entity signals a deeper commitment to India,” Arora explains.

As far as the life and general insurance ventures with Jio are concerned, regulations require Allianz to first exit its promoter role in its existing partnership with the Bajaj group. That process is in the final stages. Arora also sees strong potential in health insurance, which could either sit within general insurance or be set up as a standalone venture. “We have a large and growing middle class. Our social health infrastructure is not the strongest, so we prepare for our own health and old age. It is a large and growing fast across Asia and in India,” she reasons.

She adds that Allianz’s long-term orientation and disciplined processes—designed to stay above day-to-day market noise—helped her immensely. “A robust asset-liability management framework kept us steady through volatility,” she adds.

She has a lot on her plate now. Today, Allianz’s presence in India covers a wide range of activities across the insurance and financial services ecosystem. It runs large technology and operations centres that support Allianz worldwide, provides assistance services such as roadside help, travel and health support, offers trade credit protection to businesses, provides reinsurance capacity to Indian insurers, and serves companies with specialised commercial insurance solutions. “Allianz is very committed to being both an investor and operator as an insurance company in the country,” says Arora.

But what makes her return remarkable is its timing: “We are the envy of the world—in terms of growth, our demographic sweet spot, and a likely 6–7% GDP growth for some time.” And the Indian insurance market is expected to march in lockstep with the economy, as it aims to be among the top three markets globally from being the tenth largest at present. And when it does, you can bet that Arora will be at the forefront of that charge.