Page 9 - Insurance Times May 2019

IRDAI

News

Indiabulls gets IRDAI nod Insurers can soon offer minor changes in health insur-
for non-life business ance on renewal
IRDAI would soon start approving 'minor' changes to products quicker if it
benefits the policyholders. The insurance regulator
has proposed a list of 12 'minor' changes for which
insurer can apply for quicker approval.
If an insurer, for example, wants to give an option
to policyholders to pay the health insurance pre-
mium in instalments, it doesn't need to go through
the lengthy procedure of seeking the nod from the regulator. Similarly, insur-
Indiabulls integrated general insur- ers would be able to add more riders, change sum assured, expand the list of
ance business has been issued R1 li- day care procedures, add more critical illnesses to their products faster than
cense by IRDAI. Indiabulls is a wholly before. Along with these, IRDAI has would also allow companies to increase or
owned subsidiary of Indiabulls Inte- decrease premiums by 15 per cent and tweak minor policy wordings.
grated Services. The company will
In another notification, the regulator has also asked the insurers to send up-
start its business with a capital of Rs. dates to policyholders if they have lodged a claim. "All insurers shall notify about
100 crore.
the status of the claim at various stages of its processing. ln case of health in-
In December 2018, the group re- surance, where third-party administrators (TPAs) are engaged for rendering
ceived the IRDAI nod for starting its claims services, it is the responsibility of insurers to ensure that status on the
life insurance business. According to claim shall be notified to the claimant at every stage," said the circular.
industry players, the first-level ap- The regulator is in the process to come up with standard terms and condi-
proval, called R1 in market parlance,
tions for a health insurance product and a list of exclusions. The regulator
is given after strict cross-referencing
didn't want the insurers, who are seeking modifications to their existing prod-
with other financial sector regulators.
ucts, to wait until those two changes are implemented. The Irdai has, there-
The Indiabulls group has already fore, planning for a faster approval route, according to officials of insurance
committed Rs 2,500 crore for the companies.
two businesses together, a source While the regulator had earlier approved insurers to charge health insurance
said. Of the total, the group has al- premiums in instalments, not many companies had filed for it. Officials of
ready infused Rs 1,200 crore in the
insurance companies feel that once the current proposal is finalised, the com-
two ventures, even before it got
panies would allow policyholders to pay premiums in monthly and quarterly
IRDAI's preliminary nods. In both the
instalments. Similarly, faster approval of add-ons, day care procedures, criti-
insurance ventures, Indiabulls is the cal illnesses and riders would benefit existing policyholders. "The regulator
sole promoting entity and, unlike in
has said that insurance companies can make these changes after filing the
most private sector life and general
same on certification basis. As of now, when insurers files for changes, it can
insurance ventures in India, it has no take up to 16-20 weeks to get an approval," says Puneet Sahani, head of
foreign insurance partner.
product development, SBI General insurance.
The Insurance Times, May 2019 9