83% health cashless requests approved within 30 minutes: Digit Insurance

Digit Insurance said 82.9% of its health insurance cashless approvals were processed within 30 minutes during FY2025-26, while nearly 92% of reimbursement claims were settled within seven days, underscoring the growing role of automation and faster claims servicing in India’s health insurance sector.

The figures were disclosed in the company’s 14th Transparency Report, which highlighted claims turnaround times, customer service performance, grievance handling, and digital adoption trends during the financial year.

According to the report, nearly six out of ten cashless requests were approved within 20 minutes, substantially ahead of the one-hour turnaround benchmark prescribed by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI). The fastest cashless approval recorded during FY26 took just three minutes, while the average approval time stood at 21.38 minutes.

Claims and reimbursement

Cashless discharge approvals also remained strong during the year. Digit said 86.4% of discharge requests were approved within 90 minutes, with the average turnaround time at 58.03 minutes. The fastest discharge approval was completed in four minutes.

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In reimbursement claims, which typically require policyholders to first pay hospital bills and later seek repayment from insurers, Digit reported notable improvement in settlement speed. Around 61% of reimbursement claims were settled within two days, while nearly 92% were completed within seven days. The average reimbursement settlement time was 4.36 days, and the fastest reimbursement claim was settled in just over six hours.

The insurer attributed the faster turnaround times to technology-led claims processing, automation, and tighter operational workflows designed to reduce delays in approvals and documentation.

Health claims

Digit processed over 3.17 lakh health claim intimations during FY26 and paid 2.94 lakh health claims during the year. The company said 97.66% of all health claims received during the financial year had already been decisioned by March-end, leaving only a small percentage pending due to additional documentation or review requirements.

The report also showed that Digit maintained a health claims repudiation rate of 7.95% during FY26. The insurer said retail health claim rejections were largely linked to standard waiting-period clauses and policy exclusions.

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Beyond health claims, Digit highlighted improvements in customer servicing and digital engagement. More than 4.7 lakh customers used WhatsApp self-service channels during the year for policy servicing, renewals, and claim updates. At the same time, the proportion of customers who still needed to contact call centres after using WhatsApp services dropped sharply to 11% from 29% in FY25, indicating stronger first-level query resolution.

The company’s first-time resolution rate for customer support calls improved to 95% in FY26, while its average first-level response time on social media platforms declined to 4 minutes and 19 seconds from 7.56 minutes in the previous year.

Digit also reported improved operational stability during the year. Downtime across critical health and motor systems was reduced by nearly 80%, and overall systems reliability stood at 99.68%.

Financially, the insurer reported a 28% year-on-year increase in profit after tax to ₹544 crore in FY2025-26, while gross written premium rose nearly 10% to ₹11,294 crore.

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