Insurers with new Ulips can approach Irda

Insurance companies planning to launch new unit-linked insurance plans (Ulips) can approach the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irda).

“Certainly they can approach us,” Irda Chairman J Hari Narayan told Business Standard, adding no insurance company had so far approached the regulatory body with new plans.

Narayan’s observation assumes significance in the light of the Securities Exchange Board of India (Sebi) directive saying that insurers will have to register new products with it. Irda had then told insurers to ignore the order issued by the capital market regulator, arguing that only it could regulate insurance companies.

Several insurance companies are reportedly working on new insurance-cum-investment schemes and plan to seek Irda’s permission for launching these. This will be in defiance of the Sebi directive issued on April 13.

Ulips were being regulated by Irda until April 9, when Sebi barred 14 insurance companies from selling or renewing these products.

The government stepped in and advised the two regulators to seek legal remedy on the question of jurisdiction over Ulips.