Irdai asks insurers to provide 1-month grace period for renewal premium payments

Insurance regulator Irdai on Monday asked life insurers to provide their customers an additional window of up to 30 days for paying renewal premiums in view of disruptions caused by lockdowns after the coronavirus outbreak.

"In case of health insurance policies, the insurers may condone delay in renewal up to 30 days without deeming such condonation as a break in policy," said the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) in a circular.

In case of life insurance policies, there is a grace period for payment of renewal premiums, it said, and added insurers have been asked to enhance the grace period by additional 30 days if desired by the policyholders.

To prevent the spread of Covid-19, the Government of India has initiated various measures and several states have enforced lockdown in some areas.

"This may result in some disruption in the operations of insurance companies and other entities connected with the insurance industry.

"To ensure proper service to policyholders and customers, all the insurers have been asked to maintain continuity of business operations through possible alternate modes including telephonic and digital contact," it said.

Also, all insurance companies have been asked to display on their websites, the information on functioning of their offices and the alternate arrangements made for premium payments, renewal, settlement of claims and lodging of other service requests.

In case of board meetings of insurers, Irdai said the meetings due till June 30 could be held through video-conferencing or other audio-visual means.