The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has issued guidelines that will allow car dealers to become Motor Insurance Service Providers (MISP) and offer the policies of multiple general insurers, says Sanjay Kumar Singh.
The Insurance Regulatory Development Authority of India (Irdai), the regulator for insurance companies, is set to allow the insurers to offer wellness programmes along with life insurance policies that can earn reward points for the policyholders. These reward points can be redeemed for getting a discount during renewal. The insurance regulator has circulated draft guidelines to insurance companies for feedback before issuing the final guidelines, as is the norm.
Will allowing business correspondents to hawk insurance products help in reviving 5-lakh strong field agents as a viable channel?
The new regulations will allow the insurers to charge an extra premium from policyholders who wish to buy riders with unit-linked insurance plans.
Ask rediffGURU and PF expert Milind Vadjikar your insurance, stocks, mutual fund and personal finance-related questions.
Ask rediffGURU and PF expert Milind Vadjikar your insurance, stocks, mutual fund and personal finance-related questions.
The rules are being reviewed for the first time after the sector was opened to private competition at the start of the decade.
Younger people, who usually have a longer investment horizon which allows them to handle the interim volatility, may go for them.
The Hinduja group is learnt to be looking at alternative means of financing, including private credit, to fund its Rs 9,661 crore all-cash offer to acquire Reliance Capital. The regulator, Insurance Regulatory & Development Authority of India (Irdai), had earlier rejected the collateral offered by the group to raise funds. The Hinduja group was in talks with Barclays, JPMorgan, Cerberus Capital Management and Apollo Global Management to raise up to $850 million.
Numbers could be classified further into (140) marketing and (160 or 161) for service calls to easily identify the purpose of the call in the future.
Mergers and acquisitions would continue to create big corporate conglomerates but there is a need to draw a red line to avoid dominance and curbing of open competition in market by them, he said while addressing a conference on competition issues in New Delhi.
A crucial point anyone purchasing health insurance must heed is the need to declare PEDs.
There is huge potential for data analytics insurance sector in India which has over 40 crore life insurance policies.
If the cashless request is denied, the entire cost may need to be paid for planned treatments.
The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) is considering a proposal to make insurance frauds a parameter for calculating credit scores in an attempt to put a lid on the increase in such activity. The proposal, which is a part of the recommendations made by a working group formed by Irdai and the General Insurance Council, suggests that insurance frauds should feature when the risk profiles of individuals are evaluated and should be used to calculate their credit scores. A poor credit score can deprive a person of financial services such as loans and credit cards, and deter him from indulging in fraud.
They combine financial protection and health and lifestyle management support for non-communicable diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, cancers and tumours.
Health insurance policy-holders will be able to avail a discount on the premium payable if there were no claims made in the previous year, according to the circular released by the regulator.
While there has been a rise in obesity reduction surgeries, it may still take time before health insurance cover is made available for these.
The total benefits paid by private life insurance companies to policyholders rose by 5.98 per cent to Rs 1.57 trillion during 2022-23. This figure stood at Rs 1.49 trillion in the corresponding year-ago period. On the other hand, Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) paid out 4 per cent fewer benefits at Rs 3.39 trillion from Rs 3.53 trillion in 2021-22.
The move would help insurance firms to get much needed capital from overseas partners.
Payments can be made till April 21; for motor the relaxation is only for third-party insurance.
Ask rediffGURU and PF expert Milind Vadjikar your insurance, stocks, mutual fund and personal finance-related questions.
Consider a combination of a base policy and a super top-up policy.
In the Union Budget for Financial Year 2023-24 (FY24), Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had held forth on the need for better governance and investor protection in the banking sector. She had proposed certain amendments to the Reserve Bank of India Act (RBI Act), 1934; the Banking Regulation Act (BR Act), 1949; and the Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1970.
The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) will look at Indian executives for all top posts at insurance companies.
It will help in reducing the turnaround time.
Ask rediffGURU and PF expert Milind Vadjikar your insurance, stocks, mutual fund and personal finance-related questions.
To reduce time taken for product approvals, Irda has asked life insurers for a product planner before every financial year.
'Currently, our individual first premium would be in the Rs 3,000-Rs 3,200 crore range. We want to take that to about Rs 6,000 crore in three years.'
The Sebi-Irda tussle will change Ulips forever. What it means for millions of investors.
Motor insurance is expected to generate largest claims for the companies whereas for crop insurance, the Agriculture Insurance Company is expecting claims of about Rs 15-16 crore
Life insurers, on the prodding of global reinsurers, are set to hike premiums on term plans because rising mortality after the second wave of the pandemic has led to an increase in the number of settlements. Some will do so next month while others may wait till January. Global reinsurer Munich Re had nudged its insurance partners on the hike in September and insurers have been engaged in negotiations with the reinsurer on the amount of the increase. Term plan prices in India were among the lowest in the world for a long period but in the past couple of years, they have been increased a few times.
The Reserve Bank said overseas investors, including FPIs and NRIs, can invest up to 26 per cent in insurance and allied activities through the automatic route.
The government on Thursday issued an ordinance for setting up a full-fledged Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority akin to Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority and Securities Exchange Board of India.
The market regulator had last month allowed bourses to set up debt segments to develop the country's languishing corporate bond market.
'In life insurance, it is about creating distribution capacity and solutions for customers. We are constantly working on that.'
The insurance regulator wants the removal of the minimum entry capital requirement of Rs 100 crore for setting up an insurance business in a bid to facilitate the entry of multiple players such as standalone micro insurers and niche players. Debasish Panda, chairman, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai), said it should be left to the regulator instead to decide what should be the entry fee for interested players, depending on the size of the business and operations. According to the current norms, insurers are required to have a minimum paid-up capital of Rs 100 crore.
However, the finance ministry is yet to apply its mind on whether to merge the interim Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority with Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority or have two separate regulators for pension and insurance.
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