Gallagher Re has appointed Minesh Jani as chief executive officer for India. Jani brings more than two decades of experience across Indian, Middle Eastern, and African reinsurance markets. The hire is effective immediately.
Jani joins from Howden Insurance Brokers Limited, where he served as managing director at the firm’s Dubai International Financial Centre branch. His career has taken him from Mumbai to the Gulf and back across Lloyd’s-market intermediaries, regional carriers, and major broking groups.
Before Howden, Jani held the CEO role at Ed MENA, India and Indian Subcontinent. Ed was an independent Lloyd’s re/insurance broker later acquired by the Ardonagh Group, with its specialty and global wholesale broking units absorbed by Price Forbes.
He served as president reinsurance at ARPL, where he headed India and Indian Subcontinent operations. He was responsible for portfolio structuring and risk placement in world markets. His earlier roles included close to five years at WTW in Mumbai, two years at BMS India, and a similar period at ICICI Lombard.
He also spent close to six years at the J.B. Boda Group as Manager Reinsurance for Africa. Gallagher Re said Jani had built relationships across clients, markets, and regulators in the region. The company added that his knowledge of the Indian market would be central to its expansion plans.
The appointment is backed by hard numbers. Swiss Re projects India’s total insurance premiums to grow at 6.9% annually in real terms between 2026 and 2030. That is the fastest projected rate among major insurance markets. IRDAI reforms have raised the foreign direct investment cap to 100%, a change expected to attract additional capital and extend coverage.
The reinsurance market itself is set to grow considerably. GlobalData projects the market to reach US$9.7 billion by 2029, a compound annual growth rate of 7.3%. Planned infrastructure spending of approximately US$128.6 billion in 2026–27 is expected to sustain demand for engineering, construction, and property covers.
India’s reinsurance placements remain relationship-driven. Cedants and regulators place considerable weight on continuity and local expertise at the senior level. The identity of a country CEO carries more operational weight than the title alone suggests.
Gallagher Re is not the only global intermediary making a dedicated India move this month. International General Insurance received clearance from the International Financial Services Centres Authority to operate a reinsurance branch in Gujarat International Finance Tec-City.
The branch will focus on facultative and specialty treaty reinsurance for cedants and brokers in the Indian market.
Jani’s background spans Lloyd’s, the Gulf, and South Asia. That gives Gallagher Re a country head with reach across the placement channels that matter most in India.
India routes a significant share of its reinsurance through London. The dual-market familiarity is a practical asset for any intermediary building an India book.
