The rationalisation of goods and services tax (GST), announced on Wednesday, directly lowers the cost of everyday medical consumables, and also high-end therapies in oncology and rare diseases, helping reduce out-of-pocket patient expenditure and better adherence to medication.
To ensure a glitch-free rollout of the next-generation GST with reduced rates and lesser slabs, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman chaired three separate meetings to assess GSTN's preparedness and the time it would take to implement technological changes required in the software systems.
'Ek baar aap GST dekh lo!' - Prime Minister Narendra Modi's gentle nudge to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in December last year sparked the beginning of a mammoth exercise to overhaul the tangled goods and services tax regime. And the final outcome is a significantly simplified system with lower tax rates and easier compliance for businesses.
The code of market conduct is being prepared under the aegis of the General Insurance Council (a self-regulatory body of the 12 non-life insurance companies) in this regard.
Insurance industry emerged as the largest investor in the stock market during 2007-08 surpassing the foreign institutional investors, riding on the huge popularity of Unit Linked Insurance Products, according to Life Insurance Council.
The insurance regulator IRDA on Monday said it is mulling to follow the lead insurance model based on geography, which is presently followed by the banking industry known as 'lead banking model'.
Following suggestion from Minister for Roads Nitin Gadkari, Centre seeks ideas from IRDAI and General Insurance Council on feasibility of providing insurance cover for retrenchment.
The share of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) in monthly new business premium (NBP) in the life insurance sector declined to 58.50 per cent in September 2023 from 68.25 per cent in September 2022 -- a drop of 975 basis points -- owing to shortcomings in the product and distribution side of business. However, the market share saw a marginal uptick from the 57.37 per cent recorded in August this year. According to the monthly business data released for September 2023 by the Life Insurance Council, the NBP of LIC up to September 2023 stood at Rs 92,462.62 crore as compared to about Rs 1.25 trillion in the same period a year ago.
Term life insurance policies, and senior citizens' health insurance premium are likely to be exempted from GST as most members of a state ministerial panel favoured cutting taxes to benefit the common man, an official said on Saturday. The GoM to decide on GST on health and life insurance premiums in its meeting on Saturday decided to exempt GST on premiums paid by individuals, other than senior citizens, for health insurance with coverage of up to Rs 5 lakh. However, 18 per cent GST will continue to be levied for health insurance cover of over Rs 5 lakh.
Ask rediffGURU and PF expert Milind Vadjikar your insurance, stocks, mutual fund and personal finance-related questions.
The Insurance Regulatory Development Authority of India (IRDA) and non-life insurance companies are working towards setting up a pool for creating a capacity within India to underwrite risks from natural catastrophes.
Move seen as countering fund houses' plan to sell life covers.
Prime Minister Modi urged the people of the country to take pride in selling and buying indigenous goods.
According to the data compiled by General Insurance Council, which is not publicly available, the insurers have settled 508,334 claims amounting to over Rs 4,800 crore.
'In diabetes remission, you go below a 6.5 HbA1c without medication.' 'And this happens only when you lose 10 to 15 per cent of your body weight with a good amount of lifestyle and dietary changes, exercise and sometimes medication.' 'You have to be able to sustain your HBA1C below 6.5 for at least a year without medication to say that the patient is in remission.'
In a move that will bring cheer to health insurance policyholders, non-life insurers are finalising the contours of a new product that will have a common minimum standard cover and will be renewable and portable across companies.
As many as 121,739 claims settled by insurers so far, amounting to Rs 1,165.81 crore.
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The Supreme Court of India has reprimanded the central government for failing to implement a cashless treatment scheme for road accident victims. The court expressed its concern over the delay in formulating the scheme, which is designed to provide immediate medical care to accident victims within the crucial "golden hour." The court highlighted that despite a statutory provision requiring the scheme's implementation, the government has not taken any action, prompting the court to intervene. The court also criticized the General Insurance Council (GIC) for raising objections to the scheme and delaying its implementation. The court has now directed the government to notify the scheme within a week and has scheduled a hearing on the matter for May 13.
The sector has sought a mandatory natural catastrophe cover to cover perils in calamity-prone areas.
Insurance agents of all life insurance companies selling unit linked insurance plans will now show rate of returns ranging between 6 and 10 per cent to customers.
In the wake of the natural disaster in Uttarakhand, the proposal for 'catastrophe insurance' is in spotlight.
The Group of Ministers (GoM) on goods and services tax (GST) rate rationalisation, which convened in Goa on Wednesday, reviewed the GST rates for over 100 items, including textiles, handloom goods, agricultural products, fertilisers, and educational materials. However, no consensus was reached on any of the items, with further discussions scheduled for next month in Delhi.
Unlike other health insurance policies, which mostly covers hospitalisation expenses alone, the specialised cover is likely to include the cost of treatment during quarantine and payment of cash for incidental expenses.
The premium on insurance policies will get costlier by 3 per cent to 7 per cent, depending upon the rate fixed by the GST Council from April 1, 2017, says Harjot Singh Narula.
In the last few years, unit-linked insurance plans (Ulips) have quietly become one of the largest players in the Indian stock market. With a total investment estimated at Rs 1.5 lakh crore to Rs 2 lakh crore, they are almost close to the investment made by equity mutual funds.
It's an undeniable fact that after enactment of GST, buying insurance will become a little expensive impacting your term plans, health plans and motor insurance plans the most. But you should not ignore the importance of insuring your life, health, vehicle, says Harjot Singh Narula
Market leaders in this line of business - New India Assurance and Tata AIG - have begun to reassess the premium on risk exposure of their portfolio in the director's and officer's liability business.
Irdai had introduced two Covid specific products in the market - Corona Kavach and Corona Rakshak - that saw huge acceptance among the consumers as these products had lower premiums.
According to the action plan finalised by the General Insurance Council, the industry lobby for non-life insurers, the portable health cover will be available for a period of three years initially. Depending on the feedback in terms of claims ratio, the insurance companies will take a call on whether to extend the cover. Also, the scheme will be open to only those in the age group of 18-40.
At its heart, the issue is more than compliance. It is the risk of possible breakdown of a strong nexus between insurance firms and motor car dealers that makes the business the top earner for the former.
Enhertu currently costs around Rs 1.6 lakh per 100-milligram injection.
All costs relating to room, boarding, nursing expenses, medical consultation including telemedicine, consumables such as PPE kits and intensive care unit will be covered under the policy. It will also include the cost of treatment for any other co-morbidities, including pre-existing comorbid conditions along with the treatment for Covid-19.
Company launches claim guarantee scheme for customers.
"Earlier, India was a land of snake charmers. Now, Americans perceive Indians to be very smart. The infotech revolution changed it all," says FICCI Secretary-General Amit Mitra.
One may now not have to wait to get their insurance claims redressed.
Govt could cut the GST rate payable every time someone buys a health insurance product; or it could also provide a larger income tax set off for those who buy a health insurance product
The finance minister continues to be backed by the same policy team in charting out the broad strategy as in the few earlier Budgets.
At a closed-door meeting with global investors, the largest asset manager in the country boasted of its nearly Rs 37 trillion assets under management (AUM) - 16.6 times that managed by the second-largest insurer SBI Life. The numbers are as of March 31, 2021. The assets of LIC are 1.2 times the net assets of the entire Indian mutual fund industry, which had AUM of Rs 31.43 trillion as of March 31, 2021 (about Rs 37.3 trillion until November this year). The standalone assets that LIC manages are equal to 18.7 per cent of India's GDP and worth more than gross domestic product (GDP) of the UAE, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Africa, New Zealand, and Pakistan.
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