Page 34 - Insurance Times June 2021

about 60 to 70% of two-wheelers and 20% of cars are
uninsured despite it being mandatory. This happens mainly
due to lack of reach and distributor interest in pursuing
small-ticket premiums. "Consumer surveys show that while
most consumers want to insure their bikes, they are
currently clueless about where to find an insurance agent
or insurance branch office to get this done.

IRDAI has also allowed insurance intermediaries such as
brokers to sponsor the training and certification of POS
agents. "With increased use of digital mode… there was
increased focus on point of sale products and simple to use made it mandatory for insurers to share proposal form, Policy
channels to increase penetration of general insurance wordings and other relevant documents with insured. As per
products in sub-urban and rural areas, IRDAI too has taken New e-commerce guidelines, insurer has to share OTP with
initiatives to innovate with distribution channels like Point of
Insured to get his acceptance on the proposal. Insuretech
Sales (POS) and Common Service Centers (CSC), so that simple
has played an important role in delivering OTP, soft copy of
pre-underwritten products with lesser/minimum sum insured
proposal form and policy wordings to insured.
could be sold in villages and other small towns and cities.
Who can operate such platforms?
The technology has played a very important role in
appointing POS and CSC agents. Most of the Insurers have All insurers and intermediaries such as corporate agents,
done an API Integration with these Common service centers Brokers, IMFs and Web Aggregators etc. can operate such
to ensure fast issuance and delivery of insurance policies. platforms. Permission of IRDAI is required for operating on
Through the use of technology now Insurers can appoint POS such platforms. Products, which are approved under File and
agents very quickly, They can pass their exams very easily Use, can be sold through self-network platforms.
through the use of insurer's mobile app.
If we go into the era of pre-internet times, we can easily
Some of the Insurers have started providing training to staff remember the hassles that we had to go through to
of schools and colleges, NGO's, post offices, banks, purchase an insurance policy but today, things have changed
panchayats, other trusted villagers and local language for the better with the boom of the Information Technology
speaking people engaging them for solicitation of insurance in insurance sector, Instead of having to hire local insurance
products in their respective areas. We know that insurance agents or go to any insurer's office, one can simply go and
has been largely a 'Push' product. Innovative seamless access the website of a recognized insurance web
distribution and servicing of Insurance products to rural aggregator Like Policybazzar, Policyx to compare various
areas and to the majority of households is the key to insurance policies offered by different insurers. Customer
penetrate these markets. can see all the competing features, costs and coverage
displayed on a single screen.
New IRDA's Regulation allows Insurers to solicit business
through the Insurance self-network platform of an Insurtech Advantages:
intermediary. Cost Reduction: With the help of insurance technology,
insurance companies have started using various innovative
Insurance self-network platforms: denotes the online portals means to decrease the overall cost base required for risk
(websites) and mobile applications for selling and servicing cover in insurance. This is being done specifically by
of insurance policies.
addressing and mitigating the moral hazard and morale
hazard aspects to customer behavior and through that,
The majority of insurance products in India are sold through
reducing instances of preventable claims.
agents and the customers always see it as a 'push' product.
Many times, the distributors push products without
Better Customer Experience: Consumers often complain
explaining the benefits and limitations of the policy, leading about lack of understanding and transparency while buying
to a high dissatisfaction ratio amongst the customers, but insurance, insurance technology has introduced Customer
now at the time of issuance of Insurance policy, IRDA has
34 The Insurance Times, June 2021