IRDAI for keeping evolving risk coverage needs in new products

Insurance regulator IRDAI today said evolving risk coverage needs of the customer should be kept in mind while developing new products and revising existing products.
The regulator today issued guidelines on product filing procedure for general insurance products.
It said all products shall go through appropriate due diligence to ensure Protection of Policyholder Interests with reference to IRDAI (Protection of Policyholders Interests) Regulations issued from time to time.
The product design should ensure adherence to the basic principles of insurance like insurable interest, indemnity, utmost good faith, and proximate cause, it noted.
Products should be fair and non-discriminatory to all stakeholders, the regulator said, adding that products should be need based so that unnecessary and superfluous coverage are not added and the necessary ones are not excluded.

IRDAI warned that there should be no effort to mislead the prospect or policyholder to assume that the product is offering protection that it really does not, or that it offers such protection subject to limitations and conditions that are not easily apparent in any document.
The guidelines shall come into force with effect from April 1, 2016.