Irda forms committee on customer services

To act as advisor to regulator on servicing issues

Insurance Regulatory aThe Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irda) has set up a committee to advise it on customer services.

D D Singh, member (distribution) at Irda, said this committee has members from life insurance firms, non-life companies, Life Insurance Councils and General Insurance Councils, among others.

Singh said the regulator is also looking into whether customer-centric regulations can be re-looked at.

Under this initiative, all insurers have been asked to submit their citizen charters and Irda is looking into the possibility of having product-specific citizen charters.

On regulations, Irda is looking into whether the Policyholder Protection Act needs a revamp. It has asked insurers to submit a statement of customer services-related issues and data submitted to their respective boards.

Singh also expressed concerns about the micro-insurance segment. Although insurers have introduced products in this segment, he said there are several cases of policy lapses here. According to him, customers here get much lesser than what they paid as returns.

On bancassurance, Singh said the industry should see the big opportunity in India and try to meet the needs of the customer.