Our Philosophy
A company has two jobs for its people.
Help them rise, and protect them when they fall. Susheel Agarwal started Ethika on that belief in 2015. This page is what we value, and how we live it day to day.
4.9· 3,900+ Google reviewsThe philosophy behind Protect and Rise.
Who we are
Born in India, built for India
Ethika is an Indian employee-benefits broker. Susheel Agarwal started it in Hyderabad in 2015, and it has been bootstrapped from day one, with no money from outside investors.
That one fact quietly decides most of the others. With no insurer above us and no investor behind us, the only people we answer to are the ones who hired us. Under IRDAI’s regulations a broker’s duty is to the client, so being on your side is written into the licence we hold, not just something we say.
“From today, every Indian has to become vocal for their local.”
Indian companies have never been short of global brokers to pick from. What was harder to find was an Indian one: close enough that a person actually picks up, and independent enough to push back on an insurer on your behalf. That is the gap we started in, and it is still the one we work in.
Built for India comes down to where the work sits. The team reading your claim is Red Carpet, our own claims team in Hyderabad — not a queue three time zones away — and they read the file before the insurer or the TPA ever sees it.
The short version
- Started
- 2015, in Hyderabad, by Susheel Agarwal, who still runs it.
- How we’re funded
- Bootstrapped and profitable, with no outside investors.
- Where we are
- Head office in Kondapur, Hyderabad, with offices in Bengaluru and Mumbai, and Reside from Work, our work-in-nature campus, near Zaheerabad.
- Licensed as
- IRDAI-licensed Direct Insurance Broker (Life & General), Certificate No. 574, licence dated 8 August 2016, valid till 7 August 2028.
- Who we answer to
- Only the client. No insurer above us, no investor behind us, and a regulator that already defines whose side we are on.
- What we run
- Protect for the hard claim, Rise for everyday care, both on Ethika Hub.
The journey
From one bedroom to three offices
People still ask me how Ethika started, so here it is. There was no plan, only a decision to do one thing properly. Everything else was built after that, one piece at a time.
- 2014
Going out on my own
I left a paid job to advise on insurance by myself. No office, no team. What I had was a clear idea of how this work should be done, and finally the freedom to do it that way.
Where it all started, 2014. 
Susheel at work in the Samarth apartment bedroom. 
Sarath at his desk in the same room. 
Sandeep working by the window. 
The whole office. Why insurance, still on the whiteboard. - 2015
One of the cofounders’ shoes. The lean year
Money was tight in the first years. Whatever came in went back into the work. This pair of shoes belonged to one of the cofounders, and he kept wearing them until the sole gave out, because a new pair could wait and the work could not.
- 2016
Susheel sold his house to arrange funds for Ethika. The licence
The licence did not come free. To arrange the funds Ethika needed, Susheel sold his own house. This photo was taken around that time. When the work costs you your own roof, you never treat it casually again, and that feeling has stayed with Ethika ever since.
Certificate No. 574, 8 August 2016. Once there was enough work to call it a company, we took the licence. IRDAI Direct Broker, Certificate No. 574, dated 8 August 2016. That was the day the idea had to stand on its own.
- 2017
Our own claims team. Red Carpet
The claim is the part that matters most, and the part people dread. So we built our own team in Hyderabad to handle it. We called it Red Carpet, because that is how it should feel to be looked after when something has gone wrong.
- 2018
A wellness session, 2018. 
An open session with the team at the office. Wellness as risk management
I stopped treating wellness as a nice extra. A team that is cared for stays healthier, and healthier teams tend to make fewer and smaller claims. Manage the risk at the source and the saving finds its way back to the client.
- 2021
The first version of Ethika Hub. The first Hub prototype
We built the first version of Ethika Hub so an employee could do the practical things in one place. A health check, a consultation, help with a claim. Easy to reach, and theirs to use directly.
- 2024
Reside from Work, near Zaheerabad. Reside from Work
We built a campus near Zaheerabad where people can live and work among the trees. I wanted the way we look after our own team to be something you could stand in, not just read in a policy.
- 2025
Working with AI in the flow. Building with AI
We started using AI early, to take the repetitive work off people and move faster without losing the human part of the job.
- 2026
The team today. Ten years licensed
In August 2026 the licence turned ten. Three offices, a claims team of our own, and the same two jobs we started with. Find the right cover, and stand next to the client when it matters. The belief I began with has not changed. There are just many more of us holding it up now.
What we actually value
These aren’t lines for a wall. When a decision is genuinely hard, like whether to fight a claim at 2am or how to tell a client something they won’t want to hear, this is what we go back to.
Learn Relentlessly
We stay curious. We’d much rather find a better way to look after a client’s people than defend the way we’ve always done things.
Own the Outcome
Your problem becomes our problem. We stay on it until you can stop thinking about it, not just until it’s technically closed.
Challenge the Status Quo
Most of this industry sells you a policy and then goes quiet. We’d rather keep fixing the parts of it that quietly let people down.
Succeed as One Team
Claims, renewals, placement, the everyday questions: different specialists handle each one, but you only ever deal with one Ethika, not a maze of desks.
Earn Trust Through Action
Trust gets earned one interaction at a time. Our 4.9★ on Google, across 3,900+ reviews, is our clients saying it for us.
In practice, that comes down to two jobs: Protect for when a claim goes wrong, and Rise for everyday care. Both live inside Ethika Hub.
A bit of outside proof
We don’t really chase awards, but a few outside signals are worth sharing. The one we care about most isn’t a trophy at all: it’s the rating our clients leave us, in public, on Google.
A few of them:
- Asia’s Best Innovation-led Insuretech (ICC)
- Bootstrapped & profitable
A few of those moments.
Read our reviews on Google →
As featured in:
Interviews and comment pieces in the business and general press: how group cover works, what a policy leaves out, why a claim comes back reduced. Each logo links to the original article.
A look around
Three offices — the head office in Kondapur, and two more in Bengaluru and Mumbai — plus our green campus near Zaheerabad. A look at where the work happens.
Sustainability
We practise what we preach
Sustainability here isn’t a policy document. It’s a green campus in Telangana, a near-paperless office, and a few everyday habits.
None of it is offset or certified by anybody — it’s just how the place is run, and you’re welcome to come and see it.
Reside from Work
Near Zaheerabad in Telangana, we built a green campus where the team can actually work surrounded by nature. It was something Susheel had wanted for years, not a line on a facilities budget, and it’s since been recognised for its design.
The idea behind it is the same one we sell you: people do better work when they’re looked after. It felt wrong to believe that about your team and not build it for our own first.
How that shows up, day to day
Greenery
There’s greenery right through the workspace, and the campus was built around the land instead of flattening it.
A paperless office
Almost everything is digital, so there’s very little paper and very little waste.
LED lighting
LED lighting throughout, so the place uses less power just to keep running.
Shared meals, less waste
Everyone eats together from one kitchen, cooked for however many people are in, so hardly any food goes to waste and no one eats alone.
Outside the office, the team runs free health camps and open meditation sessions, and supports a few local organisations.
The people behind it
It’s a flat team, quick to unlearn old habits, and comfortable with people trying things and getting them wrong. When a team is looked after, they tend to look after your people the same way.
“There is freedom to experiment. Our ideas are heard. We are not afraid of making mistakes. We are more afraid of not trying.”
“Ethika’s culture is all about unlearning and relearning. It helps us stay relevant and solve client problems with a fresh perspective.”
We’re building a team that sticks around. If that sounds like you, we’d love to hear from you.
Work with Ethika →Frequently asked questions
Is Ethika an IRDAI-licensed insurance broker?
Yes. Ethika Insurance Broking Pvt Ltd is an IRDAI-licensed Direct Insurance Broker (Life & General), Certificate No. 574, licence dated 8 August 2016, valid till 7 August 2028.
Who founded Ethika, and when?
Susheel Agarwal started Ethika in 2015 and still runs it.
Is Ethika an Indian company?
Yes. Ethika Insurance Broking Pvt Ltd is an Indian company, registered and run from Hyderabad, Telangana, and bootstrapped since 2015 with no outside investors.
Is Ethika bootstrapped or venture-funded?
Bootstrapped and profitable since 2015, with no outside investors. It’s not a bragging point; it just means the only people we answer to are our clients.
Where is Ethika based?
The head office is in Kondapur, Hyderabad, with offices in Bengaluru and Mumbai, and a green campus near Zaheerabad.
What does Ethika do about sustainability?
Our campus near Zaheerabad in Telangana was built around the land rather than cleared for it, and the offices run close to paperless, on LED lighting, with shared meals cooked to the day’s headcount so very little food is thrown away. How that shows up, day to day →
How is Ethika rated by clients?
4.9★ on Google, across 3,900+ reviews.
It really comes down to this
Help them rise. Protect them when they fall.
That’s the belief the whole company runs on. Susheel wrote about it and taught it long before any of this was a service. If that’s the kind of partner you’ve been looking for, let’s talk.