Ditto Insurance
Ditto Insurance is an insurance advisory and distribution platform operated by Tacterial Consulting Private Limited, a company affiliated with the Zerodha group. Registered with the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) as a corporate agent with registration number CA0738, Ditto provides advice and facilitation services for the purchase of term life insurance and health insurance policies from multiple insurers. The platform is headquartered in Bengaluru, Karnataka.
Ditto was established with the intent of addressing what its founders describe as the information asymmetry in the Indian retail insurance market, where agents historically had an incentive to recommend products with higher commissions rather than products best suited to the customer. The platform offers advisory through trained human advisers operating via chat, video call, and telephone rather than through an automated recommendation engine alone.
The platform’s name reflects its positioning: by replicating (or “ditto-ing”) what a knowledgeable friend would tell you about insurance rather than what a commission-motivated agent would, the service aims to offer recommendations anchored in customer interest.
Corporate structure and regulatory standing
Ditto Insurance operates through Tacterial Consulting Private Limited, incorporated in Bengaluru. The company holds a corporate agent (composite) registration from IRDAI, allowing it to distribute both life and general insurance products from multiple insurers. The IRDAI registration number is CA0738.
A corporate agent is distinct from an individual agent or an insurance broker:
- An individual agent represents a single insurer.
- A corporate agent may distribute products from a defined set of insurers (up to three in each of life, general, and health insurance categories).
- An insurance broker may distribute from any insurer without the limitation on number of insurer relationships.
The corporate agent model was chosen for Ditto given its simpler compliance structure and the founders’ view that three carefully selected insurer partners per category were sufficient to cover most customer needs without the overhead of a full broker licence.
Nithin Kamath is associated with Tacterial Consulting as a founding shareholder. Rainmatter Capital is also an investor in Tacterial Consulting, making Ditto both a Rainmatter portfolio company and an affiliated group entity.
Advisory model
The core of Ditto’s product is human advisory delivered through structured conversations. A prospective customer begins by completing an intake form or initiating a chat on the Ditto platform, disclosing their age, income, family composition, existing coverage, and insurance objectives. A trained Ditto adviser then engages with the customer over chat or video to explain policy options, compare features, clarify exclusions, and assist in selecting an appropriate plan.
Ditto publishes detailed educational content on its website and YouTube channel covering term insurance concepts, health insurance claim processes, critical illness coverage, riders, and common mis-selling practices in the industry. This content-first approach to customer acquisition follows a pattern similar to Zerodha’s Varsity financial education platform.
The advisory process emphasises:
- Needs assessment: Determining the appropriate coverage quantum based on income, liabilities, and dependants rather than applying a generic multiple.
- Policy feature comparison: Highlighting differences between seemingly similar policies from different insurers, including claim settlement ratios, sub-limit structures in health policies, and exclusion clauses.
- Anti-mis-selling: Actively discouraging purchase of insurance-cum-investment products (ULIPs, endowment plans) where a client’s actual need is pure risk cover.
Products distributed
Ditto distributes policies from empanelled insurers in the following categories:
Term life insurance
Term life policies provide a death benefit in exchange for a fixed annual premium, with no maturity benefit if the insured survives the policy term. Ditto recommends pure term policies over traditional endowment or whole-life policies, citing superior value per rupee of premium for risk-conscious consumers. The platform recommends term policies from insurers with high claim settlement ratios and clear underwriting guidelines.
Health insurance
Health insurance policies distributed by Ditto cover hospitalisation costs, pre- and post-hospitalisation expenses, and (in comprehensive plans) day-care procedures. Ditto places particular emphasis on policies with minimal sub-limits on room rent and individual components, as sub-limit clauses can significantly reduce the effective coverage in practice.
Critical illness riders, which provide a lump-sum payout on diagnosis of specified diseases, are also discussed and distributed as add-on or standalone covers.
Revenue model
Ditto earns commission from insurers on policies placed through its platform, in accordance with IRDAI-prescribed commission structures for corporate agents. The commission income is a percentage of the first-year and renewal premium, regulated by IRDAI based on product category.
Ditto does not charge advisory fees directly to customers, as its business model is commission-funded. The founders have acknowledged the inherent conflict of interest in commission-based advice and have stated that their adviser incentive structures are deliberately designed to de-link individual adviser compensation from the quantum of commission earned on a specific policy. Advisers are assessed on customer satisfaction and policy persistency metrics rather than on premium volume alone.
Relationship with Zerodha
Ditto Insurance benefits from the Zerodha group ecosystem in several ways:
- Brand recognition derived from the Zerodha association attracts customers who already trust the Zerodha brand for financial products.
- Cross-sell opportunities exist through Zerodha Broking Limited’s client base, though direct brokerage-to-insurance cross-selling is subject to SEBI and IRDAI regulations on broker-agent boundaries.
- Shared technology infrastructure with other Rainmatter portfolio companies.
Zerodha Broking Limited does not directly distribute Ditto products; the cross-referral is managed through Ditto’s own marketing. Ditto is referenced in Zerodha’s published blog and educational materials as a trusted recommendation for insurance needs.
Regulatory obligations
As an IRDAI-registered corporate agent, Tacterial Consulting is subject to the IRDAI (Registration of Corporate Agents) Regulations, 2015, as amended. Key obligations include:
- Maintaining the prescribed net worth and solvency margins.
- Ensuring that advisers (called “Specified Persons” in IRDAI terminology) complete the required training and pass IRDAI certification examinations before advising on insurance products.
- Filing periodic returns with IRDAI on premium volumes, complaint resolution, and policy persistency.
- Disclosing commission structures to customers on request.
- Maintaining records of all advisory conversations and policy recommendations.
IRDAI’s corporate agent regulations include a code of conduct that prohibits mis-selling, rebating (returning commission to the customer), and making false statements about policy features.
See also
References
- Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India. “Corporate Agent registration, Tacterial Consulting Private Limited.” IRDAI agent register, CA0738.
- IRDAI. “IRDAI (Registration of Corporate Agents) Regulations, 2015.” IRDAI Gazette notification.
- Ministry of Corporate Affairs. Company master data, Tacterial Consulting Private Limited. MCA21 portal.
- Ditto. “About Ditto.” Ditto Insurance website. Accessed May 2026.
- IRDAI. “Commission Regulations for Corporate Agents.” IRDAI circulars, various dates.
- Zerodha Blog. “Why we built Ditto.” Nithin Kamath, Zerodha Blog, 2021.
- Economic Times. “Zerodha-backed Ditto Insurance advisory.” Economic Times, 2022.