Group Medical Insurance Scheme (GMIS) for Bank Employees — Coverage, Premium & Latest News

Last updated: July 30, 2026

The Group Medical Insurance Scheme (GMIS) is the health cover the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) arranges every year for around 8 lakh officers, workmen and retired employees of public sector banks. The current policy — running from 1 November 2025 to 31 October 2026 — is now up for renewal. The IBA Negotiating Committee met union representatives on 17 July 2026, and IBA and the unions signed a Memorandum of Understanding that same day confirming a package of changes for the 2026-27 policy year (effective 1 November 2026) — including a new IVF benefit, higher room rent/ICU/maternity/cataract limits, and a raised dependent income eligibility limit. See Latest Updates below.

What Is the Group Medical Insurance Scheme (GMIS)?

The GMIS is a group health insurance policy negotiated by the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) on behalf of public sector banks, covering serving officers and workmen, their eligible dependent family members, and retired employees who opt in. It replaced the older bipartite Hospitalization Reimbursement Scheme and is renewed on an annual basis, with the sum insured, premium and terms revisited every year ahead of the 1 November renewal date.

Unlike the Bipartite Settlement (BPS) — which resets pay and service conditions on a five-year cycle — GMIS is negotiated and renewed every single year, which is why it generates a fresh round of union consultation and an IBA circular each July–August, well ahead of the 1 November effective date.

History — From Bipartite Hospitalisation Scheme to GMIS

The scheme traces back to the 10th Bipartite Settlement, signed 25 May 2015, which replaced the earlier reimbursement-only Hospitalisation Scheme with a proper group mediclaim policy for officers and employees of IBA member banks. The first GMIS policy ran from 1 October 2015 to 30 September 2016 and has been renewed annually since, with the insurer, TPA, sum insured and premium re-negotiated each cycle.

For years, employee and retiree cover was tendered and negotiated as two separate exercises. From 1 November 2024, IBA began procuring and renewing both under a single coordinated process with one insurer — although employees and retirees still receive separate base policy numbers each year, so this is best described as a combined renewal, not one merged policy document. Unions have asked IBA to continue this coordinated approach in every subsequent renewal, including the 2026-27 renewal now confirmed via the 17 July 2026 MoU.

Current Coverage — Serving Employees (2025-26)

The policy running from 1 November 2025 to 31 October 2026 raised the sum insured for serving staff across every cadre compared to the previous year. Premiums for serving employees are borne entirely by the bank — there is no employee contribution.

Current Coverage — Retired Employees (2025-26)

Retirees opt into the scheme and pay their own premium (there is no bank contribution for pensioners). The 2025-26 base policy offers a choice of sum insured by cadre, with an optional top-up on top of the base cover:

Domiciliary Treatment — Important Change

From 1 November 2025, new base policies for retirees are non-domiciliary only — domiciliary (at-home) treatment expenses are not covered under the base retiree policy, and are also excluded from the retiree top-up policy. This is one of the specific points unions have pushed back on in their 2026-27 renewal suggestions (see below).

Retirees can also add dependent family members who are physically or mentally challenged to their cover, for an additional premium — a provision introduced to extend continuity of care that existed while the employee was serving.

Who Is Covered

Eligible dependants under GMIS are the employee’s spouse, dependent children, and up to two dependent parents or parents-in-law. Coverage continues seamlessly from the day of joining through to retirement, provided the retiree opts into the annual renewal and pays the applicable premium.

Insurer & Claims — Who Handles What

• Insurer (2025-26): National Insurance Co. Ltd (NICL), entrusted by IBA vide Ref. HR&IR/MBR/MEDINS/2476 dated 2 September 2025 — its sixth consecutive year holding the mandate.
• Third Party Administrator (TPA): Health Insurance TPA of India Ltd, commonly referred to as HITPA, which processes both cashless and reimbursement claims for hospitalisation from 1 November 2025 onward, for both employees and retirees.
• Claims helpline: 1800-102-3600 / 1800-180-3600 (toll-free) · customerservice@hitpa.co.in.

The insurer and TPA are re-tendered and can change with each annual renewal — employees and retirees should check the fresh circular from their own bank each November for that year’s insurer, TPA and claim helpline, rather than assuming the previous year’s details still apply.

17 July 2026 — IBA Negotiating Committee Meeting

By letter No. HR&IR/XIII-BPS/NCM dated 13 July 2026, IBA’s HR & Industrial Relations wing — signed by Arvind Misra, Sr. Advisor-HR&IR — convened a meeting of the Negotiating Committee with all eight apex-level unions and officers’ associations: AIBEA, AIBOC, NCBE, BEFI, INBEF, INBOC, NOBW and NOBO. IBA and the unions signed a Memorandum of Understanding the same day confirming the outcome below. (Source: AIBEA, 17 July 2026.)

Notably, the letter’s reference number — HR&IR/XIII-BPS/NCM — files the GMIS discussion under the same Negotiating Committee (NCM) file series as the 13th Bipartite Settlement talks, confirming that GMIS renewal and 13th BPS wage negotiations are being handled by the same committee, chaired by the same person, even though they run on entirely different timelines: GMIS renews annually, while the BPS is a five-year cycle. See our 13th Bipartite Settlement tracker for the wage-revision side of the Negotiating Committee’s work.

Outcome of the 17 July Meeting

IBA and the unions signed a Memorandum of Understanding confirming the following changes for the 2026-27 policy year, effective 1 November 2026, applicable to member banks excluding SBI.

Also reportedly agreed: an expanded day-care procedures list (including albumin infusion, peritoneal dialysis and oral chemotherapy), wider domiciliary coverage for vector-borne and rare-disease treatment, quarterly TPA performance monitoring with union participation, and a proposal to extend with NICL as insurer for one more year at the existing premium plus a charge for the new benefits.

Against the unions’ 10-point ask submitted by 10 July, this is a partial win: cataract moved from ₹40,000 to ₹50,000/eye against a ₹75,000 ask, and the dependent income limit rose to ₹24,000 against a push for no cap at all. The headline ₹10 lakh uniform family floater and restoration of retiree domiciliary cover are not part of the signed MoU.

What Unions Are Asking For in 2026-27

Ahead of the 17 July meeting, UFBU submitted a reported 133 suggestions to IBA by the 10 July deadline. None of these have been agreed yet — they are demands on the table, not confirmed changes. The headline asks:

1. Uniform ₹10 lakh family floater: Unions want the base sum insured raised to ₹10 lakh per family, applied uniformly across all cadres and to retirees as well — a significant jump from the current ₹4–7 lakh range for serving staff and ₹3–7 lakh for retirees.
2. Continue the combined renewal: Retaining the coordinated renewal process for serving employees and retirees (introduced November 2024), rather than splitting them into separate tenders again.
3. Raise the cataract cap: From the current ₹40,000 per eye to ₹75,000 per eye, along with higher limits on maternity benefits (proposed ₹1 lakh normal delivery / ₹1.5 lakh caesarean), critical illness cover (₹5 lakh), ambulance charges (₹10,000/trip), and room rent/ICU limits (₹10,000 / ₹15,000 per day).
4. Index cover to medical inflation: Sum insured and monetary sub-limits to be revised each year in line with medical inflation, rather than being renegotiated from scratch every cycle.
5. Faster cashless processing: Cashless pre-authorisation decided within 1 hour, and final discharge authorisation within 3 hours — with the insurer/TPA, not the patient, bearing any extra hospital charges caused by delayed authorisation.
6. Wider cashless network: Expansion into Tier-II, Tier-III, rural and semi-urban areas, and adoption of IRDAI’s “Cashless Everywhere” framework for eligible non-network hospitals.
7. No upfront payments at network hospitals: Employees and retirees should not be asked for advances, interim deposits, or PPN (Preferred Provider Network) rate differentials, barring clearly inadmissible items.
8. Restore domiciliary cover for retirees: Reversing the November 2025 change that made new retiree base policies non-domiciliary only.
9. Enhanced maternity and newborn benefits and a stronger grievance redressal mechanism.
10. Long-term structural shift: A push — so far only a suggestion, not a live proposal — toward an in-house, trust-based, self-administered medical scheme with empanelled hospitals, direct settlement for routine claims, and stop-loss insurance to cover catastrophic claims.

GMIS vs the Bipartite Settlement — Don’t Confuse the Two

It’s easy to mix up GMIS renewal news with Bipartite Settlement news, since both are negotiated by IBA with overlapping union federations — and, as of July 2026, by the same Negotiating Committee chairman. They are not the same process.

Key Dates — GMIS Timeline

Latest Updates

• July 17, 2026 — Negotiating Committee meets all eight unions/associations; IBA and the unions sign a Memorandum of Understanding confirming a package of GMIS changes for 2026-27 effective 1 November 2026 — new ₹2 lakh IVF benefit, cataract raised to ₹50,000/eye, room rent to ₹7,000/day (metro), dependent income limit raised to ₹24,000/month, critical illness ex-gratia ₹2 lakh. (Source: AIBEA, 17 July 2026.) The unions’ ₹10 lakh uniform family floater and retiree domiciliary restoration asks are not part of the signed MoU.
• July 13, 2026 — IBA issues letter No. HR&IR/XIII-BPS/NCM convening the Negotiating Committee, chaired by Rajneesh Karnatak (MD & CEO, Bank of India), to meet all eight unions/associations on 17 July 2026 at IBA’s Mumbai office, agenda: suggestions on GMIS for serving and retired employees.
• July 10, 2026 — Deadline for unions to submit GMIS renewal suggestions to IBA’s HR department. UFBU’s submission includes a uniform ₹10 lakh family floater demand, faster cashless SLAs, and restoration of domiciliary cover for retirees.
• July 9, 2026 — A NOBW-NOBO delegation led by Girish Chandra Arya (In-charge, Financial Sector, BMS) met Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and raised retiree health insurance funding specifically: per a DFS letter dated 24 February 2012, health insurance for working and retired employees alike is meant to be funded from the banks’ Staff Welfare Fund, with 50% of that fund earmarked for the purpose — but banks currently extend this to serving staff only, leaving pensioners to self-fund their GMIS premium. The Finance Minister assured the delegation the issue would be considered. (Ref: NOBW/NOBO Circular No. NOBW/NOBO/CIR/007/2026, dated 9 July 2026)
• July 4, 2026 — IBA formally invites AIBEA, AIBOC, NCBE, BEFI, INBEF, INBOC, NOBW and NOBO to submit suggestions for the 2026-27 GMIS renewal, with the current policy set to expire 31 October 2026.
• November 1, 2025 — Current policy year begins under National Insurance Co. Ltd (NICL) — its sixth consecutive year as insurer — with Health Insurance TPA of India Ltd (HITPA) as claims administrator. Sum insured raised across all cadres; new retiree base policies become non-domiciliary only.

Conclusion

The Group Medical Insurance Scheme is renegotiated every year, and 2026-27 is no exception. IBA and the unions signed an MoU on 17 July 2026 confirming benefit increases for the 2026-27 renewal (IVF cover, higher cataract/room-rent/maternity/ICU limits, raised dependent income limit), though the unions’ ₹10 lakh uniform family floater ask and full restoration of retiree domiciliary cover were not included. Individual banks are expected to issue their own implementing circulars ahead of the 1 November 2026 effective date. Bookmark this page — the Latest Updates section above will be refreshed as further details emerge.