FinMin holds meet with heads of private general insurers on sector growth

Several critical issues having implications for general insurance sector were discussed in detail, including awareness building through continuous interaction with states under State Insurance Plan

Financial Services Secretary Vivek Joshi on Tuesday chaired a meeting with CEOs of private sector general insurance companies and discussed issues related to growth and development of the sector.

Several critical issues having implications for the general insurance sector were discussed in detail, including awareness building through continuous interaction with states under State Insurance Plans to increase insurance penetration and coverage, the finance ministry said in a statement.

Distribution channel rationalisation in opening up of the agency channel for the general insurance industry to increase insurance penetration and coordinating with state governments and the ministry of road transport and highways to initiate a special drive to ensure compliance of Motor Vehicles' Act were also discussed.

Besides, collaboration with the ministry of health for increasing cashless facility and standardisation of treatment costs to boost growth of health insurance was also one of the agenda.

The secretary stressed on promoting adoption of property/parametric covers to mitigate financial losses due to natural catastrophes and devising mechanism to cover the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise sector

The meeting also deliberated on the possibility of linking insurance frauds to the CIBIL score to prevent/mitigate frauds.

Joshi directed the Department of Financial Services officials to take them up actively for resolution.

It was also decided that regular meetings will be held with the industry -- both private and public sector -- so that the growth and development of the insurance sector is facilitated with continuous collaborative efforts, the statement said.