Government auditor CAG has rapped five regulators, including Sebi, Irda and PNGRB, for keeping their surplus funds worth over Rs 2,142 crore collected through fee and penalty outside the government accounts.
India currently performs around 6,00,000 to 7,00,000 laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis (Lasik) and refractive procedures a year, and the uptake is accelerating.
Since last September, when the Irda capped distribution costs of Ulips, the number of policies with riders being sold had risen from 5% of the total to 20%.
General insurers violated IRDA norms on discounts. IRDA reveals plans for 2008
Ask rediffGURU and PF expert Milind Vadjikar your insurance, stocks, mutual fund and personal finance-related questions.
Purchase health insurance at an early age, before you incur a disease, as this makes access to health insurance difficult and raises the premium significantly.
The Bill -- the Securities and Insurance Laws (Amendment) and Validation, Bill 2010 -- addresses concerns by RBI over its autonomy, by including its Governor as vice-chairman of the joint commission instead of making him just a member.
The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irda) has fined 10 insurance companies, including both the insurance arms of the Bajaj Auto Group, Reliance General, United India, Iffco-Tokio, New India Assurance and Shriram Life for non-compliance with various guidelines. The violations varied from opening branch offices without seeking the regulator's permission to violation of advertisement guidelines and non-fulfilment of social sector obligations.
Wait till these are refiled as it will give you added benefits.
Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) on Thursday said ten new players have applied for licences to enter into this fast growing sector.The Shriram group, Ranbaxy-promoted Religare Securities and real estate major DLF, have sought regulatory approval for entering the insurance sector, Muralidharan said.
The proposed change would give policyholders the flexibility to switch their insurers, with the benefits of pre-existing diseases covered from the first year of shifting to a new company. At present, pre-existing diseases are covered only after the completion of four years of a policy.
'The committee has been constituted. Different government departments and FSDC members are part of it.'
'Insurers should devise procedure to ensure that proposals for contracts with high risk customers are concluded after approval of senior management officials. It is, however, emphasised that proposals of Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs) in particular, require approval of senior management, not below head (underwriting)/chief risk officer level,' the regulator stated in a circular issued on Tuesday.
Insurance companies may soon face goods and services tax (GST) audits as tax authorities plan a "deep dive" into their business practices to check for the possibility of a raft of tax-linked irregularities. Several insurance companies are being probed for wrongly availing of the input tax credit without the underlying supply of goods and services based on fake invoices generated by their channel partners and intermediaries. "We want to deep dive into the overall business and see if there are further taxation issues besides commissions, which are already being investigated," a senior official of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs said.
Amid the ongoing controversy surrounding net asset value-guaranteed products, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority is standardising the method of calculating NAV under the unit-linked plans of life insurance companies.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Monday proposed relaxations for asset management companies (AMCs) to serve pooled non-broad-based funds, giving an opportunity to fund houses to expand their business.
"Disclosure norms for insurance coming out with initial public offer will come out next week," Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority chairman J Harinarayan told PTI.
Several life insurance companies in the country are preparing to take on the markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India over unit-linked insurance plans.
An Irda official said the idea was to improve the penetration levels of insurance and deepen financial inclusion.
The move comes amid complaints that high returns are being promised by life insurers on ULIPs accompanied by non-existent guaranteed returns.
Raising concern over the underwriting skills of insurance companies to properly price products, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority on Monday said it would consider all factors before taking a final decision on de-tariffication of the
Sales of health and pension policies of life insurance companies have taken a beating in June, according to the latest data released by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA).
The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority on Monday proposed major amendments in the Insurance Act,
Most policies attached to co-branded cards to lure customers.
The new Irda chairman's biggest challenge will be to give equal priority to the growth of the industry and customer welfare.
The Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group's financial services arm Reliance Capital on Friday said it has received approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for its proposed 26 per cent stake sale in Reliance Life Insurance to Japan's Nippon Life.
Ever since the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irda) allowed motor insurance companies to decide premiums in December 2007, car insurance premiums have fallen sharply. The focus, it seems, is clearly on garnering more retail customers.For instance, in March 2007, the premium for a Honda City was Rs 20,760 in Mumbai. But this year it has fallen to Rs 15,770 - a difference of Rs 4,990.
If Irda's guidelines are implemented, cases of surrendering policies and making these paid-up might decline.
Having got the regulatory clearance to offer add-on insurance policies, non-life insurers are now preparing to launch the same in the coming weeks. Some of the insurers have said, however, that they need some time to launch these products. They say that, unlike commercial products which can be launched straight away, products meant for retail consumers need a certain level of preparation before they are ready for sale.
Regulator Irdai on Friday directed SBI Life Insurance Company to takeover the policy liabilities of around two lakh policies along with assets of Sahara India Life Insurance Co Ltd (SILIC) with immediate effect. The decision was taken at the meeting of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) in view of deteriorating financial health of the SILIC. "The Authority has identified SBI Life Insurance Company Limited (SBI Life), which is one of the largest life insurers in the country with satisfactory financials, as the acquirer insurer of the life insurance business of SlLIC.
The information will bring about more transparency by providing prospective policyholders clear information about the amount that has been collected from them as brokerage or commission, an IRDA circular said.
Expanding investigation into allegedly wrongful claims of input tax credit by insurance companies, the tax authorities are probing a section of automobile dealers who have supposedly generated fake invoices without providing any service, which is a punishable offence under goods and services tax (GST) law. The authorities are learnt to have questioned the car dealers to explain the services they provided general insurance companies. The investigators suspect car dealers pitched for insurance schemes that give them commissions in excess of those insurance regulations permit.
The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority on Thursday allowed portability of health insurance products. It will be applicable for all existing and new contracts from July.
In the April 2012-February 2013 period, the life sector's industry's new business premium collections fell 6.1 per cent, compared to the corresponding period of the previous financial year.
The healthcare industry on Friday asked the government to revamp the foreign direct investment and capital adequacy norms for health insurance entities to make world-class medical treatment available to Indians and make the country a healthcare hub i
Irdai on Friday extended the 'use and file' procedure for the most of the life insurance products, thereby allowing insurers to launch new products without prior approval of the regulator. This comes days after Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) extending similar relaxations to health insurance products as well as general insurance covers. In a press release, Irdai said that in its continuous endeavour towards the reform agenda taken up towards having a fully insured India, it has extended the 'use and file' procedure for most of the life insurance products.
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