Bajaj General Insurance Limited launched My Family Complete on August 26, 2026, marking the first health insurance policy in India that brings pet dogs and cats under the same cover as their human owners. The product replaces the earlier practice of buying separate policies for humans and pets by offering a single integrated plan with sum insured options ranging from ₹5 lakh to ₹5 crore. By allowing adults, dependent children, and pets to be insured together, the policy directly responds to the rising cost of veterinary care and the growing tendency of urban households to treat pets as full family members.
What Is “My Family Complete” and Why Does It Matter?
My Family Complete is an integrated health insurance plan that treats a pet dog or cat as an insured family member alongside the policyholder, spouse, children, and dependent parents. Until now, Indian households that wanted health cover for their pets had to buy a separate standalone pet insurance policy, while a human health policy covered only the people in the family. This often meant managing two renewals, two claim processes, and two different sets of documents for what is essentially one family.
The new plan collapses these into a single contract. A family can insure adults, dependent children, and pet dogs or cats under one policy, draw from a common sum insured, and benefit from combined features like unlimited reinstatement of cover and cumulative bonus. The product blends two payout models in the same plan. An indemnity-based payout reimburses actual hospitalisation expenses up to the sum insured, while a benefit-based payout pays a fixed sum for defined events, such as a recovery benefit after a long hospital stay. This dual structure is unusual in retail health insurance, where most products rely on only one of the two models.
The launch is significant because India’s pet care market has been expanding rapidly. The pet care industry is growing at roughly 14 percent annually and was expected to cross ₹6,500 crore by 2025, with veterinary expenses rising in parallel. Households, especially nuclear families and dual-income-no-kids (DINK) couples, increasingly allocate a meaningful share of their monthly budget to pet health. By merging human and pet cover, the insurer is trying to position health insurance as a household-level product rather than an individual-level one.
Who Can Be Covered Under the Policy?
The plan is designed around three broad categories of insured members, each with its own entry age criteria.
| Member Type | Eligible Age Range |
|---|---|
| Adults (proposer, spouse, dependent parents, parents-in-law, dependent siblings, dependent aunt or uncle) | 18 years and onwards, with lifetime renewability |
| Dependent children and dependent grandchildren | 3 months to 30 years |
| Pet dogs and cats | 3 months onwards, with no upper age limit |
The plan is offered in two formats. An Individual Policy allows any eligible family member to be covered separately, including extended relations like dependent parents-in-law, aunts, and uncles. A Floater Policy covers the proposer and the lawfully wedded spouse along with dependent children and the pet under a single sum insured. Separate floater policies can be taken for parents and parents-in-law, who are not pooled into the primary family floater.
For pets, the policy defines the Insured Pet as a domestic cat or dog that is dependent on the policyholder, resides with them, is named in the policy schedule, and is under their permanent and full-time care. This definition is important because it ties eligibility to the pet living with the family rather than to breed, pedigree, or registration with a kennel club. Pets can be enrolled from 3 months of age with no cap on the upper entry age, a notable departure from many health covers that impose strict age limits.
The renewal of cover is lifetime for both humans and pets, which is significant for older pets that often struggle to find new cover once their existing policy lapses.
Coverage for Human Family Members
For the human members of the family, My Family Complete offers the standard architecture of a comprehensive health insurance plan, with several premium features layered on top.
The base cover includes in-patient hospitalisation for stays of 24 hours or more. This pays for room rent, ICU charges, doctor’s fees, surgery, medicines, diagnostics, and implants, all up to the sum insured. Pre-hospitalisation and post-hospitalisation expenses are covered for the periods specified in the policy wording, capturing the diagnostic tests and follow-up consultations that typically bookend a hospital stay. Domiciliary treatment, where a patient is treated at home because hospitalisation is not possible, is also included.
The plan covers modern treatment methods such as robotic surgery, oral chemotherapy, and immunotherapy, treatments that often fall outside standard indemnity covers but are becoming more common in Indian tertiary care. AYUSH hospitalisation, which refers to inpatient treatment under Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha, and Homeopathy systems, is covered for human members, reflecting the regulator’s broader push to integrate traditional medicine into health insurance. The plan also covers organ donor expenses, paying for the hospitalisation of the person donating an organ to the insured, and family visit reimbursement, which supports a family member travelling to be with a critically ill insured person.
Two standout features address the long-standing pain points of family floaters. First, the plan offers unlimited reinstatement of the sum insured, meaning that every time the base cover is exhausted during the policy year, it is automatically restored in full, subject to policy terms. Second, a cumulative bonus can grow up to 100 percent of the sum insured as a no-claim reward, materially boosting the effective cover for families who do not make claims. Cataract treatment is covered with its own sub-limit, and a convalescence benefit pays 1 percent of the sum insured as a fixed recovery amount if an insured person is hospitalised for an extended period.
The policy also provides road ambulance services for transporting the insured to a hospital, and allows families to opt for a pet ambulance as well, bridging two different transport needs under one product.
Benefits Designed Specifically for Pets
The pet-specific features are what make this plan a category-creating product in the Indian market. They go well beyond simply allowing a pet to share the human sum insured.
If an insured dog or cat is hospitalised due to an accident or illness, the policy covers the veterinary hospitalisation expenses along with pre- and post-hospitalisation costs. Modern treatment methods that apply to pets, including robotic surgery and other advanced procedures, are covered up to the sum insured. When a pet requires long-term care for a listed chronic illness, the optional Long-Term Care Cover pays a lump sum of up to 2 percent of the sum insured, capped at ₹50,000, to help with ongoing management. The covered conditions differ between dogs and cats, and include illnesses such as epilepsy, pancreatitis, diabetes, thyroid dysfunction, glaucoma, and inflammatory bowel disease for dogs, and conditions such as cystitis and jaundice for cats.
The plan also addresses practical scenarios that ordinary health insurance rarely covers. If a pet goes missing or is stolen, the policy reimburses the cost of advertising and any rewards offered to help locate it. If the pet parent is hospitalised and no one is available at home, the policy pays for emergency pet accommodation at a boarding facility. The plan offers third-party liability cover for injury, death, or property damage caused by the insured pet, up to ₹5 lakh per claim with a ₹5,000 deductible. This is a critical protection, since pet-related third-party claims are an emerging source of legal liability for urban pet owners.
A particularly notable feature is Pet Assurance, which allows the policyholder to enrol a replacement pet into the insurance without paying an additional premium for the remainder of the policy period if the insured pet passes away, is euthanised to relieve incurable suffering, or remains missing for more than 30 days. This feature is unique in Indian pet insurance because most policies require a fresh proposal and underwriting for any new pet.
Sum Insured, Tenure, and Pricing Structure
The plan offers a wide ladder of sum insured options that allow families to choose a level of cover aligned with their healthcare needs and budget. The available options are ₹5 lakh, ₹7.5 lakh, ₹10 lakh, ₹15 lakh, ₹20 lakh, ₹25 lakh, ₹50 lakh, ₹75 lakh, ₹1 crore, ₹2 crore, ₹3 crore, ₹4 crore, and ₹5 crore. The lowest slabs of ₹5 lakh and ₹7.5 lakh are typical for younger families seeking essential cover, while the upper slabs of ₹1 crore and above are aimed at households in metropolitan cities where tertiary care costs can easily run into several lakhs for a single hospitalisation event.
Policy tenure is flexible, with options for annual policies or multi-year policies of up to 5 years. Longer tenures allow families to lock in premium rates and avoid year-on-year price shocks, particularly important in health insurance where premiums are revised based on claims experience and medical inflation. The product is available as both an Individual Policy, where each member has a separate sum insured, and a Floater Policy, where the entire family shares a common sum insured.
Premium payments can include a voluntary co-payment of 5 percent, 10 percent, 15 percent, or 20 percent. A higher co-payment lowers the premium because the policyholder agrees to bear a fixed share of every claim, but it also means more out-of-pocket expense at the time of hospitalisation. The product is also compatible with Section 80D of the Income Tax Act, which allows individuals to claim deductions on premiums paid for health insurance covering self, spouse, dependent children, and parents. Including a pet in the same policy does not alter the tax treatment for the human members.
The product also offers a family discount that is not available on floater policies. A 10 percent discount applies when two eligible family members are covered under a single policy, rising to 15 percent when more than two are covered. This discount applies to both new policies and renewals, and is layered on top of long-term policy discounts and loyalty benefits.
Optional Riders and Add-On Covers
The base plan is designed to be customisable. Bajaj General Insurance has bundled a wide range of optional riders that allow families to shape the policy around their specific needs rather than pay for features they will never use.
| Optional Cover | What It Does |
|---|---|
| Air Ambulance | Covers evacuation by aircraft for both humans and pets in critical situations |
| Major Illness and Accident Multiplier | Multiplies the sum insured for specific serious illnesses or major accidents |
| Double Sum Insured Benefit | Doubles the base cover for specified critical conditions |
| Bundle of Joy | Pays a lump sum on the birth of a child or a pet litter (₹5,000 for ₹5 lakh to ₹7.5 lakh sum insured, ₹10,000 for ₹10 lakh and above) |
| Global Cover | Provides worldwide inpatient cover for emergency and planned hospitalisation, available for sum insured above ₹10 lakh |
| Consumables Plus | Reduces out-of-pocket expenses on consumables used during treatment |
| Health Limitless | Allows one claim during the policy year without the usual per-claim limits |
| NRInsure | Offers premium discounts and tailored features for NRIs and OCIs |
| Walk to Win | Provides a renewal discount on completing a target step count |
| Long-Term Care Cover | Pays a lump sum for chronic pet illnesses requiring long-term management |
| Paw Promise | Provides financial support for adopting a new pet after the death or loss of an insured pet |
| Extended Pet Stay | Extends cover for an extended pet hospitalisation or boarding stay |
The Global Cover rider deserves a closer look because it carries specific conditions. It is available only when the base sum insured is above ₹10 lakh, claims must be pre-authorised under the policy terms, and there is no separate sum insured under this rider. Any claim paid here reduces the base in-patient hospitalisation sum insured. A mandatory co-payment of 10 percent, 20 percent, 30 percent, 40 percent, or 50 percent must be chosen, and the benefit is available for 45 continuous days per trip and 180 days cumulatively in a policy year. Currency conversion for foreign claims is based on the Reserve Bank of India reference rate on the date of loss.
The optional covers are priced separately and added to the base premium, giving families fine-grained control over both their protection and their outgo.
Waiting Periods, Exclusions, and Pet-Specific Conditions
Health insurance in India operates on the principle that cover for pre-existing or predictable conditions is restricted for an initial period to prevent adverse selection. My Family Complete follows the standard waiting period architecture, but allows policyholders to compress some of these windows by paying an additional premium.
The initial waiting period is 30 days from the policy start date, during which most illnesses are not covered. There is a separate specific disease and procedures waiting period of 24 months, which can be optionally reduced to 12 months for an extra premium. The pre-existing disease waiting period is 36 months, also reducible to 24 months or 12 months on payment of additional premium. The Long-Term Care Cover for pets carries its own 30-day initial waiting period and pays the benefit only once during the lifetime of the insured pet.
Several conditions apply specifically to pet cover. The policyholder is required to arrange a yearly health check-up and dental examination for the insured pet, along with any preventive treatment normally recommended by a veterinarian. Failure to do so can affect claim payment. Dogs must be kept vaccinated annually against distemper, hepatitis, parvovirus, bordetella (kennel cough), and leptospirosis. Pets in public spaces must be under control on a collar and lead, and reasonable steps must be taken to prevent straying or escape.
The policy also requires the policyholder to follow the advice of their veterinarian. Claims arising from conditions accentuated by, or caused by, the failure to follow veterinary advice can be denied. This is a substantive obligation because pet owners who try home remedies or skip prescribed follow-ups could find their claims rejected. Standard market exclusions also apply, including treatments during the waiting period, conditions related to breeding or pregnancy, cosmetic procedures, and treatments outside India unless covered under the Global Cover rider.
The voluntary co-payment chosen at inception applies across the entire policy term, including any subsequent renewals. This means that a family that selects a 20 percent co-payment to lower the initial premium will continue to bear that share of every claim in later years as well.
Bajaj General Insurance: The Company Behind the Product
Bajaj General Insurance Limited was established in 2001 and is headquartered at Bajaj Allianz House, Airport Road, Yerawada, Pune. The company was originally incorporated as Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Company Limited as a joint venture between Bajaj Finserv Limited, which holds a 74 percent stake, and Allianz SE, the German insurance major, which holds 26 percent. The company was rebranded in 2025 after the joint venture structure was reorganised, dropping the Allianz co-brand while continuing the operational and capital partnership.
The insurer operates as one of India’s largest private general insurance companies. It was the third-largest private general insurer in India with a market share of 6.6 percent in the first nine months of FY2023, and held a strong solvency ratio of 3.73 times against the regulatory requirement of 1.50 times. It carries an [ICRA]AAA (Stable) rating from ICRA Limited, reflecting the highest level of confidence in its financial strength. The company distributes its products through nearly 1,500 towns and cities using individual agents, point-of-sales personnel, banks, NBFCs, motor dealers, brokers, and its proprietary sales force.
Bajaj General Insurance is regulated by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI), the statutory body set up under the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority Act, 1999 to oversee the insurance sector in India. The company’s registered office is in Pune, and its Corporate Identification Number (CIN) is U66010PN2000PLC015329. The MD and CEO is Dr. Tapan Singhel, under whose leadership the pet insurance vertical was launched in 2021 before being expanded into the integrated family-plus-pet product in 2026.
The company’s product portfolio spans motor, health, and home insurance, alongside specialised lines such as pet insurance, wedding insurance, event protection, cyber insurance, rural insurance, fire, marine, engineering, liability, and surety insurance. The launch of My Family Complete sits within a broader strategy of building category-creating products in retail insurance, similar to its early entry into cyber insurance and wedding insurance.
Pet Insurance in India: The Bigger Picture
The launch comes at a time when India’s pet insurance market is still in its early stages but expanding quickly. Industry estimates peg the current portfolio size at roughly ₹40 to ₹50 crore, a small fraction of the overall health insurance market but growing in double digits. According to market research, the India pet insurance market was valued at USD 331.1 million in 2025 and is projected to reach USD 993.4 million by 2034, expanding at a compound annual growth rate of 12.60 percent. Other estimates put the figure at USD 644.35 million in 2025, growing to USD 1,651.85 million by 2034 at a CAGR of 11.06 percent. The variation reflects the nascent stage of the market and the absence of standardised industry data.
Standalone pet insurance has been available in India for several years, offered by insurers including New India Assurance, Future Generali, Universal Sompo, HDFC ERGO, and Bajaj General Insurance itself. The first product in this category was Future Generali’s FG Dog Health Cover, launched several years before the Bajaj entry. Existing pet covers typically offer sum insured options ranging from ₹10,000 to ₹15 lakh and include surgery expenses arising from accidents, illnesses, and fractures, along with optional OPD coverage and third-party liability.
What makes My Family Complete structurally different is not the existence of pet cover but its bundling with human health cover under one sum insured, one contract, and one renewal cycle. In standalone pet insurance, the pet owner must track two policies, two renewal dates, and two claim processes. In the integrated product, both humans and pets draw from the same base sum insured, with pet-specific features layered on top. The product also extends the entry age for pets beyond what most standalone covers allow, with no upper age limit and lifetime renewability.
The regulatory backdrop also matters. The IRDAI has been progressively liberalising product approval norms through the Use-and-File procedure, which allows insurers to launch general insurance products immediately after internal product-committee approval and file the documentation with the regulator for post-launch review. This framework has reduced time-to-market for niche products like pet insurance, cyber insurance, and event cancellation. The Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying is also working on standardising veterinary care, which indirectly supports the insurance sector by improving the quality of clinical data available for underwriting and claims.
The integrated model could reshape how pet insurance is sold in India. By attaching a pet cover to a high-volume retail health product, insurers can lower customer acquisition costs and reach pet owners who might not otherwise buy a standalone pet policy. It also gives households a single renewal touchpoint, which improves persistency and reduces policy lapse rates.
Key Takeaways
- Bajaj General Insurance launched My Family Complete on August 26, 2026, making it the first health insurance policy in India to cover pet dogs and cats as insured family members under a single integrated plan.
- The plan covers adults aged 18 years and above, dependent children from 3 months to 30 years, and pet dogs or cats from 3 months onwards with no upper age limit, with lifetime renewability.
- Sum insured options range from ₹5 lakh to ₹5 crore, with policy tenures of up to 5 years and a blend of indemnity and benefit-based payouts.
- Pet-specific benefits include third-party liability cover up to ₹5 lakh, reimbursement for advertising and rewards if a pet is lost, emergency pet accommodation, and Pet Assurance that allows a replacement pet to be enrolled without additional premium.
- Optional riders include Air Ambulance, Long-Term Care for chronic pet conditions (up to 2 percent of sum insured, capped at ₹50,000), Global Cover, Bundle of Joy, Paw Promise, NRInsure, and Walk to Win.
- Bajaj General Insurance was established in 2001, is headquartered in Pune, and operates as a subsidiary of Bajaj Finserv Limited (74 percent stake) in partnership with Allianz SE (26 percent stake), with an [ICRA]AAA (Stable) rating.
- The insurer is regulated by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI), set up under the IRDA Act, 1999.
- India’s pet insurance market was valued at USD 331.1 million in 2025 and is projected to reach USD 993.4 million by 2034, growing at a CAGR of 12.60 percent.
