The 2026 tech stack for an Indian insurance broker.

Every week, an Indian insurance broker writes to us with the same question. What software do I actually need to run a modern broker shop in 2026. Most lists they find online are either too American, too generic, or paid placement dressed up as advice.

This is the honest list. Built from talking to dozens of brokers across motor, health, and general insurance in Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Ahmedabad. Six categories, what to pick in each, and what to skip.

Six categories cover almost everything

A typical broker handles a customer from a first WhatsApp message to a signed policy and renewals year after year. The work falls into six categories. If you cover these six, you have a working tech stack. Everything else is optional.

• Customer database, also called a CRM.
• Document automation, the paperwork side.
• Payment collection.
• Signing, also called eSign.
• Customer messaging, mostly WhatsApp.
• Books and compliance, the GST and IRDAI side.

Pick one tool per category, get it working, then add the next. Brokers who pick five tools at once end up using none of them.

1. Customer database, the CRM

Every customer, every policy, every claim has to live in one place. Without this, your team chases information in WhatsApp threads, and renewals slip through the cracks.

What to look for

• Cloud based so your team can use it from anywhere.
• Indian phone number search built in.
• Renewal date tracking with reminders.
• Custom fields for IDV, sum insured, NCB, policy number.

Honest picks

For under 5 people, a well-organised Google Sheet does the job. Above that, look at HubSpot Free, Zoho CRM, or Salesmate. All of them have an Indian rupee plan. Do not pay for Salesforce until you cross 50 people.

2. Document automation

This is the category brokers underspend on the most. They will pay for a CRM but still type customer names into Adobe Reader for proposal forms. Document automation cuts that work out.

What to look for

• Supports Indian forms like IRDAI claim forms, motor proposal, GST invoice.
• Lets you upload your insurer-provided PDFs and just drop fields on them.
• Has a way for the customer to fill the form themselves, on their phone.
• Audit log on every signed document.
• INR pricing, no card-only checkout.

Honest picks

Mezdoc handles all of this and is built for Indian brokers. Free tier gets you a real test. If you want to compare with US tools, Anvil is an option but expensive in INR and weak on Indian forms like IRDAI A and B.

3. Payment collection

You need to collect premium from customers and pay it forward to insurers, sometimes splitting the cut with sub-brokers. The setup is simple in 2026.

What to look for

• UPI, credit card, debit card, net banking, all in one link.
• GST invoice generation that meets IRN rules.
• Webhooks so your CRM updates when payment lands.

Honest picks

Razorpay or Cashfree. Both have low transaction fees, both have a free plan to start. Razorpay has slightly better documentation, Cashfree has slightly better customer support. Either one is fine.

4. eSign

Customer signatures on proposal forms, claim forms, and renewal documents. India has multiple legal eSign methods. Pick based on what your insurers accept.

What to look for

• Customer signs from their phone, no app to install.
• Audit trail with IP, time, and device.
• Optional Aadhaar eSign for high-value contracts.

Honest picks

For most claim and proposal forms, browser-based eSign (drawn or typed signature with audit log) is enough. Mezdoc has this built in. For policies above a certain value, talk to your insurer about Aadhaar eSign and DSC. DocuSign and SignNow are US-priced, often too expensive for an Indian broker shop.

5. Customer messaging

Indian customers prefer WhatsApp over email. Your stack needs to handle that without your team using their personal numbers.

What to look for

• WhatsApp Business API integration.
• Shared team inbox so multiple ops people can answer one number.
• Templates for common messages like premium due, claim status, policy expiry.

Honest picks

AiSensy, Interakt, or Wati. All three are Indian, all three sit on top of WhatsApp Business API, all three are cheaper than US alternatives. Pick the one with the cleanest UI for your team.

6. Books and compliance

GST returns, IRDAI broker compliance, vendor and sub-broker payouts. Boring but legally required.

What to look for

• GST invoice generation that meets IRN and e-invoice rules.
• TDS handling.
• Insurer commission reconciliation if you have many insurer partners.

Honest picks

Zoho Books or TallyPrime. Most Indian CAs already work with one of these. Ask your CA which they prefer, the answer is usually their pick.

How the tools fit together

Here is the flow on a normal day in a broker office that uses this stack.

• A lead messages on WhatsApp through AiSensy. The shared inbox routes it to an ops person.
• The ops person creates the customer in HubSpot or Zoho CRM.
• They click Generate proposal in Mezdoc. The CRM data fills the proposal form.
• A Mezdoc fill link goes to the customer over WhatsApp. They sign on their phone.
• A Razorpay payment link goes next. Customer pays in UPI.
• Zoho Books pulls the payment and issues the GST invoice.
• CRM marks the policy active with renewal date set.

Total elapsed time, under 15 minutes per customer, most of it the customer doing things on their own phone.

What to skip in 2026

• AI chatbots that promise to handle customer questions. They still cannot handle India-specific edge cases. Use a shared inbox with real humans.
• All-in-one US platforms that charge in USD. The same features cost 3x to 5x more than Indian or self-hosted equivalents.
• Custom-built tools made by a one-person shop. Looks cheap, locks you in, hard to replace when the developer disappears.
• Software that requires a desktop app. Your team works from phones and laptops, mixed. Pick browser-first tools.

The minimum viable stack for a 3-person broker office

If you are starting today with three people and a small budget, here is the minimum.

• Google Sheets for the CRM (move to Zoho CRM later).
• Mezdoc for document automation (free tier).
• Razorpay for payments.
• One WhatsApp Business account on a shared phone.
• Tally or Zoho Books for invoices and GST.

Total monthly cost, under Rs 2,000 for the first six months. Add tools as your team grows past 5 people.

Insurance broking in India is not a tool problem, it is a workflow problem. The tools are the easy part once the workflow is clear.

Where to go next

Pick the one category where your team loses the most time, and fix that first. For most brokers, that category is document automation. Customer name typed five times into five forms is the most visible pain. Fix that, your team gets two days a week back.

Start with one Mezdoc template for your most-used form. Test it on one real claim. If it saves you 20 minutes, you have your answer for the rest of the stack.