Irda gears up for product refiling process

S Roy Chowdhury, Member (Life) Irda says regulator to involve more staff to approve products

Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irda) has geared up for the product refiling process by engaging additional staff in product approvals. Sudhin Roy Chowdhury, Member (Life) of Irda said that they would be sticking to the July and October deadline for refiling the group and individual products of life insurance firms.

Irda has put in place a new set of guidelines for traditional life insurance products. These guidelines, which have made changes in the product structure, charges and commission structures, will be implemented from July 1, 2013 for group products and October 1, 2013 for individual products.

For the insurance companies to have more agents for product distribution, Irda has reduced pass percentage for agents licensing examination from 50% to 35%. "Prior to this change, only 42% examinees passed the agent examination. After this change was made, number of candidates passing the exam has gone up to 82%," said Chowdhury, on the sidelines of an event by Asia Insurance Post.

In terms of health insurance, he said that the health ministry should crackdown on hospitals that charge higher from people with a health insurance policies. "If this is done, cost will be lowered and business would be gained in large numbers," he added.

Chowdhury explained that he has also suggested that home insurance be made mandatory for all home buyers. This he said, can improve general insurance penetration.

Bancassurance is also an area where Irda is bringing out a final regulation. The latest exposure draft on bancassurance suggested that a zonal structure be followed by banks for tying up with insurance companies in different zones. Micro-insurance regulations covering the products for rural areas, will also be announced in the next few weeks, said Chowdhury.

With respect to different product segments, Chowdhury said that pension products are an area of focus for Irda. "We are making an attempt to improve pension products