With the insurance products designed as per old norms going off the shelf by December 31, there would not be dearth of new products from New Year as the insurance regulator had approved 450-500 of them, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) Chairman T. S. Vijayan said here on Friday.
However, each insurance company would be offering 10-15 products from among those approved by the IRDA. Some of the approved would be kept on the shelf and offered later.
Talking to reporters after participating in an interactive session organised by the Federation of Andhra Pradesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FAPCCI) here, he said banks should become brokers and not agents of the company, and the regulator was pushing for that. He said the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare was working on standardising the protocols for treatment as well as the cost with regard to medical insurance.
He said the proposal to introduce select life and non-life products through common service centres such as e-seva services would be implemented under a pilot project in some districts by the insurance companies in about six months.
Mr. Vijayan said the insurance penetration in the country had grown from 2.72 per cent in 2000 (when the sector was opened for private participation) to nearly 4 per cent this year.
Describing it as a great achievement, he said what was commendable was that public sector companies had been holding on their own.
Referring to the repository system, he said, the IRDA would like to gradually make it mandatory as it would bring down the cost of policy servicing.
He said health insurance, pension market, insurance for assets and motor insurance were the growing areas.
