The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) has so far cleared 400 renewed life insurance products ahead of December 31 deadline. It will clear the balance 60 and odd products well before the deadline, Sudhin Roy Chowdhury, Member (Life), IRDA, said here on Thursday.
Speaking on the sidelines of a conference here, he said, “Now the products are cleaned up and new ones with good designs are out. They are in sync with modern times. One of the key differences between the phased-out products and new ones is that there is higher death benefit for consumers which is ten times the total premium.” The idea was to ensure a big sum for the customer at the time of adverse eventuality, he said.
Following a request from the Life Insurance Council, the IRDA had extended the October 1 deadline till December 31 for insurance companies to make changes to traditional products and re-file them with the regulator.
The industry, after a three year de-growth, was showing positive trends from September. The new channels of sales such as bancassurance, intermediaries, web aggregators and online sales were expected to push growth in a big way, Mr. Chowdhury said. This apart, the insurance repository system, which was launched for life insurance policies on September 16, was also another key initiative by the IRDA to empower people, Mr. Chowdhury said.
The repository system facilitates policyholders to keep insurance policies in the electronic format. The system protects policyholders against loss of details in case of mutilation or loss of physical document.
The IRDA has licensed five companies — NSDL Database Management, Central Insurance Repository, SHCIL Projects, CAMS Repository Services and Karvy Insurance Repository — to act as insurance repositories.
