Under “Protection of Policyholder Interest Regulation,2024”, e-Insurance Account ( EIA) will be opened for all new policyholders and digital policy record will be kept with Repository like CAMS, NSDL, Karvy and CIRI. Policy holders can view, download and manage all his life, Nonlife and health policies at one place. Benefits for policy holder:
- Chance of loosing the physical copy is ruled out.
- Any update by policyholder of any data in one policy will be reflected in all other policies.
- Policy holders will get his Insurance policy in demat form instantaneously.
- This initiative of the Regulator will increase the security of data.
- This e-Insurance Account will allow the policy holder to view his consolidated benefits like renewal of policies, updation of nominee and bank account details with insurers.
- As the insurer are getting on boarded, there are new updates like policy loan, premium payments and claim readiness will be added to the platform.
The basic services by the depository will be offered free of cost.
This regulation will be effective from 1st April,2024.
Issue of all policies through electronic format is compulsory now. Majority of the life and Nonlife Insurance companies have adopted the electronic Insurance Account Mechanism. The new system will encourage the policy holders to digitise their policy documents. If the policy holder sees any deviation from these norms , they can contact the insurance repository immediately for any necessary correction.
The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) is working on the final modalities of an all-in-one standard insurance product—BimaVistaar—which is expected to be launched soon.
“The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (BimaVahak) Guidelines, 2023 shall come into force from the date of launch of BimaVistaar..it is a comprehensive Insurance product which will be issued in due course,” the regulator said in a notification. It will be one policy under which life , health and property insurance cover will be extended to the customer at one go at an affordable price. The policy will be in simple format,easy to understand by the common people.
The main objective of BimaVahak is to establish women centric dedicated distribution channel that is focused on enhancing insurance inclusion and creating awareness in every village/gram panchayat, and thus, improving accessibility and availability of insurance in every nook and corner of the country.
It aims at identifying and developing resources locally who understand and appreciate local needs and enjoy the trust and confidence of the local population of their village/gram panchayat.
According to BimaVahak norms, every insurer should engage individual BimaVahaks and/or Corporate Bima to progressively achieve coverage of every gram panchayat.
The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) has proposed raising mandatory coverage under Rural, Social Sector and Motor Third Party Obligations’ norms in an effort to achieve the objective of “insurance for all”.
In the exposure draft of Rural, Social Sector and Motor Third Party Obligations Regulations, 2024, the Irdai said that a new strategy and fresh approach have been devised to boost insurance penetration in the country.
The minimum number of lives to be covered by all life insurers, in all gram panchayats and India will be 30 per cent in each gram panchayat subject to a minimum of 25,000 gram panchayats as driven by the lead insurer in the first year. This increases to 40 per cent lives subject to a minimum 50,000 gram panchayats and 50 per cent lives subject to a minimum of 75,000 gram panchayats in a year.
BimaSugam: A Upi moment:
IRDAI and it’s Chairman in particular are quite hopeful about the possibilities of BimaSugam, a ONDC (Open Network for Digital Commerce) like platform which will serve as digital public infrastructure for products, insurance companies and distributors. Policyholders can port their policies from one insurance co to another through this platform which will allotment Insurance Account Number to them. Customers can purchase policy on this platform or submit their policy claims. Agents are a little bit apprehensive about the platform, so also some insurance companies regarding sale of products and portability. It is worthwhile to mention that IRDA has replaced 34 regulations with Six regulations. Two standalone health insurance cos like Galaxy Health and Narayana Health have been approved. Two old regulations like minimum business duties in Rural and Social Sectors and Motor Third Parties have been combined and a new benchmark for measuring it’s performance has been set. BimaVistar and BimaVahak, the other two new interventions will unfold gradually. Hope all these measures at the level of the Regulator integrating all stakeholders will definitely yield the desired progress and results in the landscape of Indian Insurance Industry.
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Results oriented professional with 32+ years of experience and a proven knowledge of competitive marketing, consultative management, and customer relationship management. Takes keen interest in insurance training and vertical development. Aiming to leverage my skills to successfully fill the domain head/marketing head of any organisation/ development of skillset and mindset through functional training.
