Insurance start-up OneCircle targets underinsured small-town commercial vehicle owners

Mumbai: An insurance start-up is betting on a narrow but neglected corner of India’s motor market: micro-entrepreneurs who own commercial vehicles in small towns and rural areas, and who often miss renewals due to lack of access. OneCircle Insurance Brokers, which launched operations this month, is designing its business around these gaps, offering products from multiple insurers that are themselves increasingly focused on niche segments within commercial vehicles. Registered with Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Tradeas a start-up, the firm is also in discussions with potential investors and strategic partners as it begins operations.The company’s strategy rests on building a hyperlocal distribution network to reach individual owners of trucks, vans and tractors who rarely interact with insurers beyond mandatory third-party cover. “Our distribution model is built around point-of-sale persons, or POSPs, whom we call One Circle Champions,” said Jaideep Devare, founder of the company said. “In insurance, accessibility and affordability are critical, but equally important is in-person advice. Many customers make decisions without fully understanding terms and conditions.”Devare said One Circle Insurance Brokers, registered in 2025 and approved in November, is formally launching in Pune after starting operations, with its first customer located about 35 km outside the city.According to him, underinsurance is a structural problem in the commercial vehicle segment. “In motor insurance, people often opt for lower premiums without realising they are underinsured,” he said. “These gaps can only be addressed by trained individuals who provide local, face-to-face advice.”The One Circle Champions are drawn from local communities. “The idea is to build inclusion by training people to understand insurance needs and begin with simple, pre-underwritten products.” While advice is delivered in person, transactions are fully digital. “Payments go directly from the customer to the insurance company using digital modes, which removes trust concerns.”Geographically, the company is beginning in western Maharashtra. “We are starting in and around Pune and will expand to nearby districts such as Satara, Sangli, Kolhapur and Solapur,” Devare said, adding that the longer-term plan is a hub-and-spoke expansion across the state. “Maharashtra has around 64 RTOs, and our aim is to cover all of them over time.”Product focus is deliberately narrow. In future the company aims to expand to covering small businesses, health and life insurance. The economic logic, according to Devare, is compelling given the size of uninsured and underinsured vehicle population in India. “The total motor insurance market was about Rs 1 lakh crore in FY24, of which nearly half came from commercial vehicles,” he said. “A significant portion of this market remains underinsured, particularly on the own-damage side.” Repair costs, he noted, can range from Rs 80,000 to Rs 2 lakh, excluding lost income during repairs. “This directly affects livelihoods.”Over the next six to seven months, the firm plans to onboard about 1,000 POSPs in Maharashtra, scaling to 25,000 nationally over three years. “At a household level, this could impact close to one lakh people.”