Page 8 - Insurance Times June 2021

IRDAI News

IRDAI moots 'Model insure-tech as well as fin-tech firms for a consumer affairs department (CAD)
support in product design and to oversee compliance of insurers and
Insurance Village' concept implementation of the concept using intermediaries with respect to
to boost insurance in rural technology at all the levels of insurance Protection of Policyholders' Interests
processes from marketing, servicing, Regulations. It will also empower
India
loss assessment to claims settlement. consumers by educating them on
In order to boost insurance penetration grievance redressal mechanisms.
IRDAI has suggested that to make the
in rural areas, IRDAI has mooted the
concept of 'Model Insurance Village' premium affordable, financial support To provide alternative channels to
(MIV). As part of this, IRDAI has asked from governments as well as institutions receive complaints against insurers, it
insurance companies to set up MIVs in such as NABARD and CSR funds must has set up the IRDAI Grievance Call
500 villages across the country in the be explored. Insurance companies have Centre (IGCC) that receives complaints
been advised to tap various initiatives through a toll-free telephone number
first year and gradually scale this up to
of the rural development ministry as and by e-mail. It also registers
1,000 villages in the subsequent two
years. In these model villages, well as network of SHG members and complaints apart from furnishing the
insurance companies will have to work bank correspondent Sakhis (BC Sakhis) status of the resolution. The agency will
towards covering the entire for insurance product distribution and be required to manage its IGCC by
servicing. "At present 11,189 BC Sakhis providing the state-of-the-art call
populations and their properties, farms,
machineries, vehicles and different are present in 11,552 villages of 330 centre solution based on IP Multimedia
village-level services, among others. districts of 18 different states," it added. platform for seamless handling of
Insurance companies have been told to channels (telephone calls, e-mails and
The idea of this initiative is not only to explore tie-ups with different farm input letters) with unified administration and
boost insurance penetration but also suppliers, financial institutions, rural reporting as well as having the
ensure that people in the rural areas services providers to target distribution integrated components in a single
start understanding the concept of of small ticket, short duration or platform, said the request for proposal
insurance and its benefits. "The efforts tailored products. (RFP) for IGCC Services.
in selected villages need to be continued
for a minimum period of three to five IRDAI looking for agency to The entity, the RFP said, should be able
years so as to make the insurance to take over the operations from the
benefits visible to the community," manage its grievance current service provider. According to
the RFP document, the duration of the
IRDAI said. redressal centre contract will be initial for three years
IRDAI has stated that insurance IRDAI is looking for an agency to and further extendable for two years
companies need to study the risk profile manage its multi-media grievance on a year on-year basis.
of villages, their insurance needs and redressal centre with a view to address
design their products accordingly. complaints of the insured public against The regulator said the IGCC is envisaged
Besides, they will also have to engage insurance companies. IRDAI had set up to be a true alternative channel for the
insured public consumers by offering
8 The Insurance Times, June 2021