The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) on February 14, 2024, issued an Exposure Draft of IRDAI (Protection of Policyholders’ Interests and Allied Matters of Insurers) regulations 2024 to enhance the ease of doing business and also reduce the compliance burden for stakeholders while also ensuring that interests of policyholders continue to be protected, Insurance Councils were asked to submit their recommendations.
The following are some of the major changes proposed in the draft:
(i) It is broadly divided into the following two parts:
a) Part A covers provisions relating to protection of the interest of the policyholders;
b) Part B covers provisions relating to the Operation and allied matters of the insurers.
(ii) Protection of interest of policyholders:
a. Free Look Period: The free look period for the policies, obtained through any mode, shall be 30 days from the date of receipt of the policy document.
b. To enable electronic transfer of refund and for payments of the claims, the insurer to collect the details of the bank accounts of the insured at the proposal stage;
c. No policy in the case of life insurance shall be issued unless a nomination is obtained.
d. Nomination provisions relating to general, wherever applicable and health insurance policies introduced.
e. Insurance policies meeting the defined criteria to be issued in Electronic form.
(iii) Advertisement: The requirement of filing of advertisement with the Authority has been dispensed with.
All the stakeholders are requested to forward their comments/suggestions, if any, on the proposed regulations in the attached format (Annexure- A) on or before 5:00 PM on March 04, 2024, to Ms. Spandana V, Manager at [email protected] with a copy to Shri K Sridhar, DGM at [email protected].
