The Insurance Times journal has entered into 43rd year of publication and in the year 2023 we have too embarked upon a journey to reach out to the Industry people and consumers at large to increase the reach of insurance. We solicit the support of our readers to help us in this mission and send us regular feedbacks and suggestion so that we may make the journal more informative.
Budget 2023 has been announced and has left the Industry disappointed as there was no increase in exemption limit in 80C and 80D and rather from 1.4.2023 in case of life insurance policies having a premium of Rs.5 lakhs and above, the income from maturity proceeds will not be eligible for exemption from income tax. This will directly impact the policyholders as they will now take this into account while calculating the returns from the life insurance.
Government is slowly moving towards the regime of No tax deduction and Industry must gear up to face the future challenges.
It is a matter of discussion and research as to how the consumer will react in the new scenario and what should be the next action plan of Insurance Companies.
According to IRDAI Chairman Mr Debashish Panda, the insurance industry will need a capital infusion of Rs 50,000 crore per year to double its penetration in the next five years. While speaking at CII Insurance and Pension Summit he asked the players to engage with housing regulators to try and make property insurance compulsory, or impress the need for property insurance with the Union housing ministry.
He said the Insurers also have to go beyond the present distribution arrangements with scheduled commercial banks, and have bancassurance arrangements with non-bank lenders, co-operative banks and also payment aggregators. Panda also asked the insurers to create grievance Redressal cells with a separate set of officials in place.
From this issue we are starting a new Column Guest Editorial where we shall be inviting Industry veterans and thoughts leaders to share their outlook for the Insurance Industry.
