IRDAI's e-commerce proposal to boost online insurance sales

Insurance companies on Saturday said the proposed guidelines on selling and servicing of policies through e-commerce platform are expected to boost online sales of insurance products.

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) issued a proposed draft on Tuesday for promotion of e-commerce in insurance space and suggested introduction of an Insurance Self-Network Platform, a technology platform.

"We expect this (Insurance Self-Network Platform) will help in penetrating of insurance products. It is a revolutionary thing. The technology platform will induce lot of benefits to the customers in terms of accessibility of products that are not encouraged by agents due to lack of adequate remuneration for them," said Bajaj Capital group's CEO and Director Anil Kumar Chopra.

"The Insurance Self-Network Platform will undertake insurance e-commerce activities in India such as selling and servicing of insurance products," the draft said.

Chopra said the country's cumulative number of issued polices is about 12.5 crore which is abysmally low as compared to India's population. A single person should ideally have multiple policies for different covers like health, motor and life.

the state-run National Insurance Company is also exploring e-commerce selling and servicing.

"Online selling was there but it lacked proper guidelines. In online space, customers should be able to judge products not only on price point but also on the features and services offered by the company," said the company's Chairman and Managing Director K Sanath Kumar on the sidelines of the Insurance Summit organised by the Indian Chamber of Commerce.

"The online sales of policy without any requirement of physical signature process with an authentication process will help customers to buy property insurance and other term policies online at ease and they would not be influenced by agents," he said.

--IANS

bdc/lok/bg