BMS, the London based independent insurance and reinsurance broker, opened a global capability centre in Mumbai in June 2026. The centre is central to the group’s plan to build data, analytics and AI capability at scale, and it was already operational and contributing to several workstreams at launch. Nipun Mapara leads the centre as managing director, with Sanjeev Poojari as head of operations.
BMS works across wholesale broking, reinsurance, direct insurance and capital advisory, with a strong presence in the Lloyd’s market. The group employs more than 2,000 people across 52 offices, and about a third of its staff are shareholders in the business. Nick Cook is group chief executive. The firm has been expanding its geographic reach over the past year, including moves into the Middle East and Latin America.
What the centre will do
The Mumbai team works alongside BMS colleagues worldwide across broking operations, data, analytics, technology and client service. A core task is supplying the specialist skills the group needs to deploy AI tools live across broking and operations, as BMS steps up spending on data infrastructure. The group has positioned the centre as an integrated part of its operating model and a centre of excellence, not a standalone support unit. Headcount and hiring targets have not been disclosed.
Why Mumbai
Mumbai is India’s financial capital and home to most of the country’s insurance and reinsurance activity, which gives BMS access to people who already understand broking, underwriting and claims. The city also offers a growing pool of data science and analytics talent drawn from banks, insurers and financial services firms. For a broker whose India strategy rests on both a local market business and a global delivery base, keeping the two in the same city makes practical sense.
BMS’s India footprint
BMS entered India in December 2025 through a strategic partnership with Berns Brett India, a domestic insurance broker. Subject to regulatory approval, that business is set to be renamed BMS (India) Ltd. The Mumbai capability centre is the next phase of that strategy, sitting alongside the local broking operation and widening the group’s access to Indian talent and AI expertise.
What it signals
Insurance broking has been slower than banking to build captive centres in India, but that is changing as brokers lean on data and AI to compete. BMS is pairing a market entry with a delivery hub within the same year, a model that lets one Indian presence serve both clients and the global group. The pace of hiring in Mumbai will show how much of that AI work the group intends to anchor there.
At a glance
- Home country: United Kingdom
- Sector: Banking and Financial Services
- City: Mumbai
- Date: June 2026
- Status: Operational
- Scale: Headcount not disclosed. Covers broking operations, data, analytics, technology and client service
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