Insurers have Rs 152-bn policyholders' unclaimed money, LIC's pile largest

As much as Rs 151.67 billion (Rs 15,167 crore) amount of policyholders is lying unclaimed with 23 life insurers, according to the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority's (Irdai's) data.   

The Irdai has already asked insurers to take steps to identify the policyholders or beneficiaries and disburse the claims.

The board-level committee for policyholder protection of every insurer is entrusted with the responsibility of monitoring the timely payout of all dues to policyholders. 

It also oversees the steps taken by the insurers to reduce unclaimed amounts as part of the standard procedures on customer service.

Out of the total unclaimed amount of Rs 151.6647 billion (Rs 15,166.47 crore), as on March 31, 2018, insurance behemoth Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) is sitting on Rs 105.09 billion (Rs 10,509 crore), while the 22 private sector insurers account for the remaining Rs 46.5745 billion (Rs 4,657.45 crore). 

Among the private insurers, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Co has Rs 8.074 billion (Rs 807.4 crore) of unclaimed insurance claims, followed by Reliance Nippon Life Insurance at Rs 6.9612 billion (Rs 696.12 crore), SBI Life Insurance Co at Rs 6.7859 billion (Rs 678.59 crore) and HDFC Standard Life Insurance Co Rs 6.593 billion (Rs 659.3 crore).

Irdai had asked the life insurance companies to provide a search facility on their website to enable policyholders or beneficiaries or dependents to find out whether any unclaimed amounts due to them are lying with these companies.

Policyholders/beneficiaries are required to enter the details, like policy number, PAN of the policyholder, name of the policyholder, date of birth or Aadhaar number, in a window provided on the website of the insurer to find out the unclaimed amount.

 

The insurers have to update information regarding unclaimed amounts on their websites on a half-yearly basis.