Page 11 - The Insurance Times November 2025

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Irdai's Deepak Sood calls for new distribution model IRDAI mandates insurers

to expand rural insurance reach to adopt board-approved
India's insurance industry must rethink its distribution strategy to extend anti-fraud policy
coverage beyond metros and urban centres, said Deepak Sood, Member The Insurance Regulatory and Devel-
(Non-Life), Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India opment Authority of India (IRDAI) has
(IRDAI), at the Global Fintech Fest 2025. directed all insurers to implement a
"In the last decade, India has built one of the most powerful digital public Board-approved Anti-Fraud Policy as
infrastructures anywhere in the world. The digital backbone gives us the part of the new Insurance Fraud Moni-
tools to make insurance truly universal-but to do that, we need to rethink toring Framework Guidelines 2025.
distribution," Sood said. The move aims to strengthen fraud
He noted that the existing agent- and broker-based model has served well risk management and establish zero
but limits outreach to familiar customer segments. Highlighting Bima Sugam, tolerance toward fraudulent activity.
the digital marketplace being developed under IRDAI's guidance, Sood said The framework requires insurers to
it will enable insurance access in every corner of India. He added that arti- develop procedures for preventing,
ficial intelligence can help design more tailored, trustworthy products while detecting, reporting, and mitigating
ensuring equitable advice for all citizens, regardless of income or location.
fraud across all business operations.
Insurers must review their policies an-
IRDAI issues warning to shall be no undue delay in processing nually and identify "red flag indicators"
free-look cancellation requests and across activities such as underwriting,
Shriram Life Insurance for the consequent refund of premiums." claims, and digital transactions.
policy norm violations It also instructed the insurer to im- To counter cyber and new-age fraud,

The Insurance Regulatory and Devel- prove complaint handling mechanisms insurers must also establish a robust
opment Authority of India (IRDAI) has for cases of non-receipt of policy cybersecurity infrastructure and main-
issued a warning to Shriram Life Insur- bonds. tain databases for incidents, customer
ance Company over violations related IRDAI has asked Shriram Life to verification, and access control. The
to policy issuance and grievance present the order before its Board in regulator has instructed insurers to set
redressal. The insurer has been di- the next meeting and submit a copy of up a Risk Management Committee
rected to strengthen its systems to the minutes along with an Action (RMC) to oversee the framework's
ensure compliance with regulations Taken Report within 90 days. The ad- implementation. IRDAI said the fraud
governing free-look cancellations and visory emphasises the regulator's focus risk management approach should re-
policy bond dispatch. on consumer protection and adher- flect each insurer's business profile, risk
In its order, the regulator said, "There ence to operational timelines. exposure, and distribution structure.

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