Number of lapsed policies rose to 1.4 cr in FY11: Pranab

The total number of insurance policies that lapsed in the public and the private sector rose to 1.40 crore during 2010-11 from 1.23 crore in the previous fiscal, Parliament was informed today.

According to the Insurance Regulatory Development Authority (Irda), the total (public and private) number of insurance policies that lapsed during FY11 stood at 1.40 crore, with an assured sum of Rs 1.58 lakh crore.

This was against 1.23 crore policies with an assured sum of Rs 2.14 crore in FY10, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

He added that the total number of policies sold in FY11 stood at 1.10 crore and there were 2,189 complaints of mis-selling registered with Irda during the period.

On measures taken by the insurance sector watchdog to ensure a healthy insurance market in the country, he said: "Irda has mandated insurance companies to put in place an efficient system of grievance redressal and establishment of IRDA Grievance Call Centre (IGCC) and Integrated Grievance Management System [IGMS]."

"The authority on September 20, 2011, notified guidelines on persistency of policies i.e. Percentage of policies in continuity to the total number of policies.

"As per these guidelines, agents are required to maintain an average persistency rate of 50%. The licence of the agent is renewed only if this condition is met," Mukherjee added.