IRDAIhas allowed general insurers to launch products for the agriculture and allied activities without its prior approval. Last month, IRDAI had permitted insurers to launch health and most of the general insurance products by extending the ambit of ‘use and file’ procedure, thus giving them greater leeway in designing and pricing of insurance covers in line with market needs.
The ‘use and file’ procedure was also extended to most of the life insurance products.
“In order to facilitate the insurance industry to promote insurance penetration and enhance coverage in the unserved and underserved areas by designing suitable and need-based products covering agriculture and allied activities, the Authority…hereby permits the general insurers to file retail products for agriculture and allied activities under the Use and File procedure,” it said in a circular.
This move, the regulator said will facilitate insurance companies to design and launch innovative products for these segments in a timely manner and expand the choices available to the policyholders.
Agriculture and allied activities constitute one of the largest sources of livelihood in India.
Also, the adverse impact of natural catastrophes on the vulnerable segments of society is enormous and underlines the need to design and offer suitable insurance products for their protection, IRDAI said.
