ICICI Lombard, one of India’s leading private general insurer, has concluded the 2025 edition of its flagship business case-study competition, IL IGNITING MINDS – season 3, in collaboration with IIT Bombay (E-cell) – One of India’s premier Engineering Institute. Designed to give young innovators a real-world platform to solve meaningful industry challenges, the initiative has received 4000+ student registrations from 500+ unique premier institutes, making it the largest edition of the competition so far.
The theme for this year’s challenge, “Unlocking SME Insurance Growth in India”, focuses on one of the most critical and underserved segments of the economy. India is home to over 6.3 crore SMEs, contributing significantly to GDP and employment. However, insurance penetration in this sector remains low due to lack of awareness, limited product relevance and accessibility barriers. Through this competition, ICICI Lombard invites students to reimagine; product design, digital enablement, distribution and outreach strategies that can make insurance adoption seamless, impactful and affordable for small and medium businesses.
Building on past editions conducted with institutes such as IIM Calcutta & IIM Lucknow and NMIMS – which together engaged over 4,500 students from more than 700 campuses -the IIT Bombay (E-Cell) edition marks a significant step in expanding the competition’s campus footprint.
Ms. Sheena Kapoor – Head Marketing, Corporate Communications & CSR, ICICI Lombard, said, “The 3rd season of IL Igniting Minds has been truly inspiring. What began as a simple idea has now connected us with 4000+ students across 500+ campuses—young minds filled with curiosity, enthusiasm and a strong drive to solve real-life problems. This year’s outstanding competition and quality of thinking stood out. The finalist teams presented real-life case studies, challenges and problems to our senior management with clarity, depth and intelligence. Moments like these reaffirm our belief that the future of India rests in brilliant and responsible hands.”
IL Igniting Minds business case-study competition, season 3 was conducted at the ICICI Lombard Office in Mumbai where the students had an opportunity to showcase ideas to the senior management of the company. The winning team was from IIT-Delhi and the first runner-up was from IIM Ranchi; they were felicitated by ICICI Lombard senior management.
