Page 9 - Insurance Times November 2020

IRDAI

News

Launch uniform life policy: Just like the standard health insurance IRDAI is seeking to come out with new
product 'Arogya Sanjeevani', the indi- advertisement regulations and has in-
IRDAI to Insurers vidual term life insurance product will vited comments from stakeholders on
IRDAI directed all life insurers to come also be the same across all insurers. the exposure draft.
out with a standard plan 'Saral Jeevan "For the first-time buyers of life insur- The objective of the proposed regula-
Bima' from January 1, 2021. ance, the plan will be a boon since the
tion, IRDAI said, is to ensure that the
The product will have the same fea- product is the same, regardless of the insurers, intermediaries or insurance
tures, benefits, inclusions and exclu- insurance company offering it," he said. intermediaries adopt fair, honest and
sions across all life insurers though the "We welcome the move of a standard transparent practices while issuing
prices may differ. The policy, which will product that will surely help increase advertisements, and avoid practices
be available for those in the age group the awareness of protection plans, es- that tend to impair the confidence of
of 18-65 years, will be for a term of 5 pecially during these uncertain times. the public. Another objective of the
to 40 years with a maximum maturity A product of this construct will also proposed regulation is to ensure that
age of 70 years. The minimum sum help in insurance penetration within the publicity material is relevant, fair
assured will be between Rs 5 lakh and the country," said Bharat Kalsi, CFO, and in simple language, enabling in-
Rs 25 lakh. Bajaj Allianz Life. formed decision making.
"There are many term products in the According to the draft, misleading ad-
market with varying terms and condi- IRDAI invites comments vertisements will also include those
tions. Customers who cannot devote for amendments in insur- which fail to disclose or disclose insuf-
adequate time and energy to make ance advertisement regula- ficiently important exclusions, limita-
informed choices find it difficult to se- tions and conditions of the contract.
lect the right product and products tions The illustrations regarding future ben-
may not be available for the intended IRDAI has proposed to prohibit insur- efits on assumptions which are not re-
sum assured," the regulator said. ers from issuing advertisements that alistic nor realisable in the light of the

"An important reason for introducing make claims which are beyond reason- insurer's current performance, or de-
a standard life insurance plan is that able expectations of performance. viate from the stipulation by the au-
the current life insurance products The unfair and misleading advertise- thority through regulatory provisions
available in the market are different ments will include those which fail to will also be treated as misleading ad-
and quite complex, and it is difficult for clearly identify the product as insur- vertisements.
the common man to understand the ance and describe benefits that do not While issuing the exposure draft, IRDAI
various inclusions and exclusions of the match the policy provisions, the regu- said evolutionary trends in advertise-
plans," said Santosh Agarwal, Chief lator said in the draft Insurance Adver- ments in the last 20 years, coupled
Business Officer, Life Insurance, tisements and Disclosure Regulations, with technological developments which
Policybazaar.com. 2020. have changed the medium of advertis-
The Insurance Times, November 2020 9