The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has written to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the insurance regulator, IRDA to look into complaints of failed transactions but money not reversed, delay in crediting the amount and inordinate time taken in processing of insurance claims.
It has urged the IRDA to take up the issue of addressing consumer grievances with the insurance companies and direct them to adhere to the timelines stipulated in the IRDAI Protection of Policyholders’ Interest Regulations, 2017.
The CCPA wrote to the IRDA and RBI recently after analysing consumer grievances received in the National Consumer Helpline (NCH), which is being run by the consumer affairs department. The CCPA analysed complaints lodged between April and December 20.
The NCH data show that out of 6,018 grievances registered relating to the insurance sector, nearly 1,200 pertained to delay in getting the claim amount. “You may agree that the two most important factors that influence consumer satisfaction in the insurance sector – aside from the perceived fairness of the settlement itself – are the speed and transparency of the claims process,” CCPA chief commissioner Nidhi Khare wrote to IRDA chairman, S C Khuntia.
