Irda warns insurers against violating Trai norms on telemarketing

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irda) has asked insurers to follow the regulations of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) while carrying out their telemarketing activities.

In a circular addressed to the chief executives of life and general insurance companies, Irda pointed out that according to the Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations 2010 issued by Trai, those sending commercial communications should be registered with Trai as a telemarketer.

“It has been brought to the notice of the Authority by the chairman of Trai that some of the insurance companies and their marketing intermediaries, including agents, are engaging telemarketers not registered with Trai to promote various products or services to customers, in breach of Trai’s regulations,” the Irda circular noted.

The registered telemarketers are also supposed to use telephone numbers from the ‘140’ series and filter the numbers they are accessing through the National Customer Preference Register database before making voice calls and sending SMSes.