Irdai should monitor life insurers' expense management only: Deepak Parekh

Allowing life insurers to distribute health indemnity and NPS products will improve the insurance reach, Parekh said

The insurance regulator should hold life insurers accountable only on expense management limits, much like the concept of total expense ratio (TER) in the mutual fund industry, instead of having various rules monitoring their investments and expenditures, said Deepak Parekh, Chairman, HDFC Life.

In the annual general meeting of HDFC Life, Parekh said, “Today, life insurers can only sell policies at their branches and through employees. They cannot, for example, sell NPS under the national pension scheme or health indemnity covers such as mediclaims. Worldwide, both pension and are very much part of life insurance as they protect people risk.”